Before last year’s historic rain event and flood, the South Carolina Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) contacted associate professor Norm Levine at the College of Charleston to help create flood maps and subsequently organize and identify dams across the state.
Levine and his team of student researchers located 2500 real dams, but their work also revealed something interesting about the land around some earthen and concrete structures. South Carolina Public Radio’s Thelisha Eaddy talks with the researchers about how population growth and development could be a likely cause of failing dams and a catalyst for changes in Best Management Practices (BMP).
Norm Levine is an associate professor at the College of Charleston. He says one of the key goals of the University’s undergraduate and graduate research programs is to design projects to be directly linked to the needs of the state of South Carolina.
"...[T]here’s a lot of work throughout the state...especially in those parts of the state that are growing such as the Upstate...and the rest of Columbia for that matter." - Kelsey Culbertson
“We designed our research so that state agencies know they can call upon the department and the programs that we have here at the hazard center and get information.”
When that call was made, Levine and student researchers Kelsey Culbertson and Mary Eaton got to work on flood maps and then locating dams across the state, which lead them to their recent research findings:
The team says their work can help with determining when dams are inspected and how planners and city officials regulate development.
“We already have dams we know the ages of and we create a system that allows us to prioritize inspections not only to those dams that are older or have been less inspected, but those that have been pre-dating the change [in development].”
Levine says these sorts of studies are necessary when developing an area.
“You need to understand what your runoff is going to be and what structures below you may be affected.”
Culbertson says this work is just the beginning.
“Our research mostly focused on the dams that failed in October, however there’s a lot of work throughout the state (inventory that needs to be taken and upgrades that need to be made) especially in those parts of the state that are growing such as the Upstate, Greenville, Spartanburg area and the rest of Columbia for that matter.”
The researchers will present some of their work to the Association of Counties Planning and Zoning in May.
How Dams are classified
What DHEC looks for when inspecting dams
