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Stimulus funds for watershed dams important, says NRCS

Federal stimulus money is helping move conservation programs forward in rural America – and one of the most significant – according to NRCS Chief David White, involves fixing up old watershed dams that were built in the mid-1940s, “Many of them were built with a 50-year design life and that means that many of them are reaching the END of their design life.”

White calls the watershed dams ‘silent guardians’ that provide one-and-a-half Billion dollars in benefits to the U.S., mostly in flood control. White says, “A lot of people that live in rural America don’t even know that these dams are protecting them.”

White says metal rusts and concrete wears down over time and in many small, rural areas the dams protect the drinking water supply.  But, he says that’s not the only consideration, “What was once a corn field when this dam was built now has development around it and any time that happens you’ve got to increase the hazard – it goes to a high hazard dam – and you’ve got to go in there and make sure it meets high hazard standards.”

White tells Brownfield it’s critically important that these watershed dams be rehabilitated.  The Natural Resources Conservation Service is getting $50 Million in stimulus funds to fix more than two-dozen watershed dams in 11 states, including Missouri and Nebraska.

White says 11,000 structures were build and about 1700 are “high hazard.”  He says engineers are going to be assessing those watershed dams to see what needs to be done to fix them.

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

AUDIO: David White, NRCS chief, 6:00 min., MP3