Georgia senators want to ease rules for building below dams

ATLANTA - Georgia senators voted Monday to let people build homes that could be flooded by dams without raising safety standards for the upstream dam.

The state Senate voted 47-6 to pass Senate Bill 319, sending it to the House for more debate. It would let structures be built in a dam’s inundation zone.

The structures would have to be built to withstand a dam breach and be certified by an engineer approved by the state Environmental Protection Division.

However, construction would not prompt a dam to be upgraded to a Category 1 dam. Those dams are subject to regular inspections and other rules because their failure would result in probable loss of life.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican State Sen. Frank Ginn of Danielsville, says the move would protect dam owners from having to choose between taking on costly upgrades or removing a dam.

A Category 2 dam is any dam that does not have inhabitable structures in its inundation zone. They don’t have to meet any regulatory requirements.

An investigation by The Associated Press last year identified 1,688 high-hazard dams rated in poor or unsatisfactory condition in 44 states and Puerto Rico. Georgia led the nation with nearly 200 high-hazard dams in unsatisfactory or poor condition.