Five Massachusetts dams have been cited by the Army Corps of Engineers as structurally deficient, raising questions about the future pricing of flood insurance for cities and towns in which the dams are situated.
The dams -- located in Canton, Chicopee, Lowell, Springfield, and West Springfield, according to an Army Corps spokesman -- were listed among 146 levees nationwide considered unsuitable for a flood such as the one Hurricane Katrina wrought upon New Orleans in 2005. "After Katrina we had to take a hard look," said Corps regional spokesman Tim Dugan. "It's really up to the communities to determine how they proceed with these projects."
Dugan said this round of inspections was more vigorous than previous ones because of the post-Katrina scrutiny on levee safety. This time around, he said, violations such as overgrown vegetation and animal burrows were listed as structural deficiencies, while they were omitted in previous years. Many of the dams in question were built by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1930s.
The findings angered some local officials who say that the inspection reports amount to alarmism and could actually prove detrimental to the safety of Massachusetts dams. "This sort of alarm, without the scientific or agricultural background or the engineering background to go with it, is unfortunate," said Mayor Michael Bissonette of Chicopee.
EDIT
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/30/five_mass_dams_found_deficient/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
