NID: National Inventory of Dams Database
February 2005


SUMMARY: The National Inventory of Dams database is a great basic CAR dataset. 
	The data is Collected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and includes dam maintenance 
	and safety records, structure,composition and owner. This update includes records 
	for almost 80,000 dams.  This update includes data through collected through 2002.

	Rebecca Ragon of the USACE has this to say about this update:
	"After 2002, no new data was requested or collected.  The NID
	funding was cut back and the Corps concentrated on resolving duplicate
	submittals in 2003-2004 instead of publishing the NID data.  The Corps should
	be requesting dam data later this year (2005) and we hope to keep the NID update
	cycles to about every 2 years."

	
STORIES: The following stories used National Inventory of Dams database. 
	 Call (573) 884-7711 to order this database.

In 2004,WEWS-Cleveland reported:

Summary
Ron Regan of WEWS-Cleveland found that at least 450 of Ohio's 1,700 dams 
	are considered unsafe. Dams have to be inspected once every five years by 
	state officials, and some of the "high hazard" dams have no emergency plan 
	as required by the federal government. 

In 2000, Time Magazine reported:

Summary
A Time investigation finds that dams built in the 20th century have been 
	responsible for some of the worst environmental tragedies in history. 
	The ongoing devastation of most of the West Coast salmon 
	fisheries south of Canada, the gradual disappearance of 
	coastal Louisiana, and the salting out of millions of 
	hectares through irrigation illustrate only some of the 
	deadly effects. "In ways direct and indirect, playing 
	God with water has had a tendency to bite us back," the 
	magazine reports. The story reveals that even though some 
	states' economies are hopelessly dependent on the manipulation 
	of water, governments have started removing the dams.
	
In 1995, the Atlantic Monthly reported:

Summary
More than 100,000 dams regulate American rivers
          and creeks, Atlantic Monthly reports. But the
          progress which dams epitomized has been called
          into question by experts. Making rivers navigable
          for barges costs taxpayers millions in subsidies,
          which often benefits the largest companies the most.
          Lobbyists have kept these subsidies high. Damage
          is also done by flooding that occurs as a result of
          dams. The environment suffers many different kinds
          of reactions. "If water policy gets dragged kicking
          and screaming into the age of limits, we'll probably
          find we have more than enough water to go
          around," the magazine reports.

In 1995, NBC News Dateline reported:

Summary
Dateline conducted a four-month computer-assisted
          investigation of the nation's aging and failing dams.
          The report exposed the fact that thousands of dams
          are precariously close to collapse and that nearly
          half the people that died in the 1994 Georgia floods
          were found downstream from broken dams. (June
          27, 1995)

In 1997 KOMU TV (Columbia, Missouri) reported:

Summary
By national standards, 1,228 dams in Missouri
          should have Emergency Action Plans to help with
          the evacuation of people living downstream if the
          dam should fail. According to the state's own
          records, only 33 do. When KOMU tried to verify
          that at least those 33 actually did have the plans on
          file, only three were found.

In 2000, Sierra Magazine reported:

Summary
This article examines the life of salmon and how
          "four obsolete dams are all that stand in the way of
          salmon surging back to the interior West."

In 1999, Montreal Gazette reported:

Summary
After a violent storm exposed potentially
          life-threatening flaws in the world's biggest dam
          complex in Canada's Far North, this two-year
          investigation reveals the dam's Quebec-based
          owner concealed the damage when spending $100
          million to quietly repair it. Neglect of the dam, which
          supplies up to 25% of New York and New
          England's electricity, resulted in severe losses from
          the 1998 storm.

THE DATA: 

	The 2005 update includes:

	Nid2005.dbf -- This is the main file
	Readme05.txt --- You are reading it. 
	Datadict05.txt -- This is a description of all the fields. 
	Layout05.txt -- This is the record layout for the table.
	Legal05.txt -- Legal information, terms and conditions.

NOTES: 
	* The NIDID is the unique id for each dam. There do not appear to be any duplicate records, 
	but to be safe, you could combine the NIDID and the Recordid to ensure the unique ID. 

	Bob Bank (former USACE contact) said the Congressional District and the Congressional Person 
	are not used for this database because they are geographically based by the location of the dam. 					
	These fields are entered in a geographical database not the inventory database.

	NEW FIELD:
	submit_date:  
	From Rebecca Ragon:  "The 'submit_date' field is the date the states and federal agencies submitted
	data to the Corps.  The dates are several years old because we asked for data
	back in 2002.  After 2002, no new data was requested or collected.  The NID
	funding was cut back and the Corps concentrated on resolving duplicate
	submittals in 2003-2004 instead of publishing the NID data.  The Corps should
	be requesting dam data later this year and we hope to keep the NID update
	cycles to about every 2 years."

	*Note that several fields can include more than one code. For example, the 			
	foundation field includes both matter and certainty codes. The codes are very 
	clearly marked in the DATA DICTIONARY. 

	QUESTIONS: 
	For technical questions about the data, please contact:
	Rebecca Ragon, US Army Topographic Engineering Center, 
	e-mail:  rragon@tec.army.mil
	
	For policy questions about the National Inventory of 
	Dams, please contact:
	Anthony Niles, HQ US Army Corps of Engineers, e-mail:  
	Anthony.Niles@usace.army.mil
	Lori Spragens, Association of State Dam Safety Officials, 
	e-mail:  lspragens@damsafety.org	

 
	National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting
	138 Neff Annex
	Columbia, MO 65201
	573-884-7711