Missouri DNR ‘actively working’ to update state dam list
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources said it is trying to update its inventory of dams in the state.
Cara Blevins with the department said the citizen-led Dam and Reservoir Safety Council is “actively working on an update to the National Inventory of Dams for portions of Missouri.”
The inventory was last updated in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to Boone County’s hazard mitigation plan from 2015. That leaves it, and other emergency response agencies, without accurate information about dams, their owners and their current conditions.
One of those dams in Boone County not on the state list is the McNew Lake Dam in northeast Hartsburg. The lake sits uphill from the village, currently owned by Daryll Raitt, according to county property records. The county only knew about the dam when someone brought it to the hazard planning committee’s attention, according to the 2015 report.
The county considers the McNew Lake Dam, and 51 others, a “high-risk” dam because of the possible loss of life and property damage to the people living in its path should it break. The risk level, which is determined by state and federal officials, does not refer to how structurally sound a dam is.
Residents and county officials don’t believe the McNew Lake Dam is a major risk to the people of Hartsburg. One neighbor to the property told ABC 17 News that she often sees Raitt on the dam with others. The 2015 county report said the owner “cooperates well” with village officials, and the dam has a wide base and a 3-foot wide metal culvert that allows for overflow.
The state inspects every dam greater than 35 feet high every two to five years, depending on its risk level. Only 13 percent of the dams in Missouri are regulated by the state, according to DNR’s list.
Some dams on the state list have either been completely rebuilt or destroyed since the state last collected information. In 2008, the dam at Moon Valley Lake in east Columbia broke, draining the 17-acre lake and costing the city $400,000 to clean up. The city also completely rebuilt the dam at Stephens Lake in 2004. The state dam inventory only notes that it was built in 1939.
