In recent years, the United States has seen a high demand for dam rehabilitation projects as most dam infrastructure has started to reach or exceed the expected life span of 50-70 years. Rehabilitation projects can be very expensive, however, and the funding options for dam owners are limited. To raise awareness, organizations such as ASDSO and the Virginia DCR release cost estimates every few years to encourage more investment in dam infrastructure. Unfortunately, many cost estimates have been made with limited data and outdated methodologies. This research collects a new sample of cost data for Virginia dam rehabilitation projects and uses it to assess key factors for cost estimating. Factors such as height, drainage area, hazard classification, and ownership type were used to make regression models that predict the cost of addressing Virginia's non-compliant dams. This study estimates that approximately $300 million is needed to address Virginia's 98 deficient high hazard, local government owned dams and that $122 million of that estimate is need for SWCD dams alone. / Master of Science / Dam rehabilitation refers to the repair, removal, or upgrade of an existing dam structure. Rehabilitation projects are done when dams start to exceed their intended life span (approximately 50-60 years) or when policy makers change the required safety standards. The demand for dam rehabilitation has been increasing for the past several years as more and more dams are being identified as unsafe, but the available funding for rehabilitation projects is limited and competitive to obtain for dam owners. To raise awareness, dam safety agencies release cost estimates every few years to encourage government leaders and the general public to take action. However, these estimates need to be taken with caution as they are often made with limited data availability and outdated methodologies. This research collects a new sample of cost data for Virginia dam rehabilitation projects that have occurred in the last 15 years. Dam characteristics such as height, watershed size, downstream risk potential, and ownership type were used to form equations that predict the cost of addressing Virginia's non-compliant dams. This study estimates that approximately $300 million is needed to address Virginia's 98 deficient high hazard, local government owned dams and that $122 million of that estimate is need for Virginia's Soil and Water Conservation District dams alone.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/98786 |
| Date | 08 June 2020 |
| Creators | Baron, Stefany A. |
| Contributors | Civil and Environmental Engineering, Dymond, Randel L., Hodges, Clayton Christopher, Young, Kevin D. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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