News Release 444

DEPARTMENT DAM SAFETY ENGINEER
MONITORING KIRKSVILLE DAM OVERFLOW

Volume 36-444

Contact: Larry Archer

(For immediate release)

573-751-3807

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, JULY 25, 2008 -- A dam safety expert from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is advising local officials in Kirksville, where heavy rains this week have caused the overtopping of and damage to a dam at the local country club on the city's south side.

Jim Alexander, chief engineer from the department's Dam and Reservoir Safety Program in Rolla, was dispatched to Kirksville this morning to assess the integrity of the dam that forms the lake at the Kirksville Country Club and advise local officials.

Water from the five- to seven-acre lake has overtopped the dam and eroded away upper portions and downstream slope, but has not caused a breach. A threat of a breach and debris from the dam closed nearby U.S. Highway 63.

The department was notified Friday by the State Emergency Management Agency that heavy rains in northeast Missouri had caused the water in the lake to overtop the dam, prompting concerns for its integrity.

The Department of Natural Resources administers state regulations concerning dam safety, but the dam in Kirksville is not tall enough to be regulated under current state law. Under a new law proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt, the dam would be more likely to be regulated, but a precise measurement of its size would be needed to determine that with certainty. Even though the dam is not regulated, department resources and expertise are still made available to local officials when a dam's integrity threatens public safety.

Dams that are regulated under state law are periodically inspected by engineers from the Dam and Reservoir Safety Program. The department encourages dam owners, regardless of whether their dam is regulated, to regularly inspect their dams for spillway obstructions, woody vegetation and areas of seepage.

Dam owners can contact the Dam and Reservoir Safety Program to obtain a complete checklist of items to inspect. For more information on the Dam and Reservoir Safety Program, see the department's Web site: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wrc/damsft/damsfthp.htm.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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