Workshops

2013 Workshops - Informal Visual Inspection and Maintenance" -  Register 

Dam owners are solely responsible for keeping their dams safe and financing maintenance, repairs, and upgrades. Being familiar with inspection techniques and knowing how to identify deficiencies on all parts of a dam are important components of dam ownership. Tracking known problem areas and repairing damage as it arises can often prevent more costly repairs in the future.

This summer, the OWRB Dam Safety Program is hosting a workshop called “Informal Visual Inspection and Maintenance for Dam Owners” to teach inspection methods and discuss common deficiencies in dams. This topic is geared toward private and public ownership of small embankment dams in Oklahoma. Topics will include:

• the importance of regular maintenance
• the structural effects of aging
• visual inspection methods
• how to identify deficiencies on each part of the dam
• when to retain an engineer

The half day seminar will include a slideshow of images from sample dams both in need of repair and maintenance as well as those dams for which work has been completed effectively. Instructional videos depicting model inspection behavior and real-world examples of proper inspection techniques. Dam Safety staff will share experiences in conducting fieldwork as well as display their data collection and safety equipment.

The workshop will be held at three locations from 9:00am to 11:30am. There is no cost to attend, so register for the location nearest you to learn more about keeping your dam safe.

May 30, 2013 at Lawton City Hall -  Register 
212 SW 9th St, Lawton OK 73051

June 20, 2013 at Oklahoma Water Resources Board -  Register 
3800 N Classen Blvd, OKC OK 73118

July 25, 2013 at Mohawk Water Treatment Plant -  Register 
3600 Mohawk Blvd, Tulsa OK 74115

For more information email Kylee Wilson or reach her by phone at (405)530-8800.

On Saturday, January 19th, the OWRB Dam Safety Program held the first in a series of half-day workshops titled "Informal Visual Inspection and Maintenance for Dam Owners" at their Oklahoma City office. The private owners, engineers, and municipal officials in attendance heard from state dam safety engineers and staff on topics such as:

On July 26th, OWRB’s most recent dam safety workshop titled “EAP: Emergency Action Plans for Oklahoma Dams” was held at Tulsa’s Mohawk Water Treatment plant located at Lake Yahola in the northern part of the city. OWRB is grateful to Anthony Wilkins and Stephanie Roberts from the City of Tulsa for their assistance in providing access to classrooms at the historic facility.

The day-long event started early and featured highly informative talks by OWRB staff and professional engineers with decades of experience in dam engineering between them.

Over 60 people representing several different communities and engineering firms met with dam owners, managers, emergency management officials and OWRB staff to learn valuable information about emergency action planning, a key component of dam design and management. Topics included hazard level reclassification, EAP design and implementation, Oklahoma dam safety law, communicating risk with inundation maps, and tabletop exercises.

The event was considered a tremendous success, and plans are already being made for OWRB’s next workshop in 2013.