Abstract

Dam Safety in the State of Utah is under the jurisdiction of the Division of Water Rights. The implementation of the geographic information system (GIS) Arc Info allows engineers and technicians to track various features of close to 700 dams, as well as perform spatial analyses.

A program called QUAKES, written in Arc Macro Language (AML) searches the data base for dams which should be inspected after an earthquake. Using the epicenter of the earthquake as the center point, and a specified radius length, based on local Richter Magnitude, a search is conducted to find all dams which fall within that radius. Output from the program includes a hard copy list of all dams within the search radius, and a line drawing of the state with affected dam sites depicted. The same plot appears on the screen in an Arcplot session, allowing map query by the user.

Scores of dams are situated within areas sensitive to tectonic activity. Using an Arc Info based analysis to quantify the numbers of dams within respective Uniform Building Code (UBC) Seismic Zones, spatial distribution trends of dams are easily discernible. These data have been used in an assessment of seismic monitoring network needs.