INDIANAPOLIS – A space age system allowing dams to be fixed before they could burst is expanding.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) under USDA is adding up to 600 dams to its nationwide DamWatch system. The dams being added belong to the U.S. Forest Service.

DamWatch is a web-based application developed to help monitor and manage NRCS-assisted dams by providing real-time updates of rainfall, snowmelt, stream flow and seismic events that could affect dam safety. The high-tech monitoring of the dams occurs around the clock, according to USDA.

Jerry Raynor, Indiana State Conservationist, said safety will be improved at dams being added without the U.S. Forest Service having to pay for developing their own web-based maintenance and safety program.

“The system is easy to scale to include the additional dams and will help keep the public safe and protect infrastructure,” he said.

Bill Field, a farm safety expert from Purdue University, said the decision means potential to save additional lives by sensors in more dams finding problems that might be overlooked by traditional eyesight inspections. He said people downstream can be alerted to evacuate the area before being swept away in a dam burst.

Field said preventing a dam break also means sparing property and crops downstream from damage which can be major even if small dams break.

“We don’t have huge numbers of dam failures but the historical record of dam failures tells us that when they do occur they’re catastrophic,” he said.

According to USDA, DamWatch alerts key responders in a watershed area by e-mail, fax or text message when at least one condition that could result in dam failure develops.

Cracks from age or tremendous pressure on a dam holding back too much water from a major weather event are among the risk factors the system is capable of detecting.

The alerts provide for a quick response of the resources needed to prevent a break and handle the aftermath of an actual failure, according to USDA. In addition, the system provides responders with access to vital information such as how the dam was constructed and inspection reports for faster repair.

U.S Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen said more protection is also offered for life sustaining and quality of life benefits created by dams.

“The DamWatch system will help secure clean drinking water, world-class water recreation opportunities and hydroelectric power for millions of rural and urban homes and businesses,” she said.

According to USDA, NRCS has worked with U.S. Engineering since 2012 to customize its DamWatch application to meet the needs of about 12,000 NRCS project dam owners and sponsors throughout the country.

Field said the development of such technology might be in response to concerns about the stability of dams in the country. “I think we’ve built these dams and sort of walked away from them. Some of them are 50, 60 and 70 years old,” he said.

Field said sensing technology monitoring so many dams and giving alerts if problems develop at any of the locations in the system is a huge advantage in terms of safety and loss prevention.

Traditionally, Field said dams have been visually inspected to look for any weaknesses or damage but humans don’t have what basically amounts to X-ray vision sensors provide. There also isn’t the manpower to keep enough of the dams under more of a steady watch.

“It’s just not possible under the current way we do things to have every one of these dams inspected after every big rain,” Field said.