Contact

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
St. Paul District
Programs & Project Management

332 Minnesota St., Suite E1500
St. Paul, MN 55101

(651) 290-5755

cemvp-pm@usace.army.mil

Dam Safety Program: Iowa

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District
Published April 28, 2025
Purpose

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Dam Safety Program can be traced to the National Dam Inspection Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-367). The Dam Safety Program has been updated numerous times, including via the National Dam Safety Program Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-260) and 33 USC 467. Most elements of the program still closely abide by the Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety (1979), with the most notable development in the last decade related to risk assessments to better prioritize actions and communicate the safety status of dams. The overlying purpose of dam safety is to ensure the integrity and viability of dams such that they do not present unacceptable risks to the public, property, and the environment.

Description

The Dam Safety Program focuses on inspections and risk assessments. Inspections include a routine program of surveillance and monitoring that includes soundings, surveys, measurements with special instrumentation, divings, and camera inspections. Most dams owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been inspected on 5-year intervals. The inspections and risk assessments inform and help prioritize repair and rehabilitation needs.

Status

The locks and dams in the St. Paul District are in the process of a series of programmatic upgrades that include new miter gates with related anchorages in the operating locks, sheet pile crossings in the auxiliary locks, grouting of below-water rock cribs in the guidewalls with upgrading of the tow haulage rail, and adding end cells at some of the guidewalls. At Lock and Dam 10, sheet pile was installed in the auxiliary lock in 2022. The miter gates were fabricated and installated in 2024. Lock 10 was dewatered for maintenance in 1991 and 2011, with the next dewatering tentatively scheduled for 2031. Painting the spillway gates will be considered for future budget requests.

Dams in St. Paul District Portfolio

The dam in the St. Paul District that is federally authorized, operated and maintained in Iowa is as follows:

Mississippi River — Lock and Dam 10 (Guttenberg)

See the National Inventory of Dams for more information: https://nid.sec.usace.army.mil/#/