• MSTM Shapefile: MS_DamSafetySites_2023.zip
• Current Data: 2023

Downloaded from the MS Department of Environmental Quality Feb 23,2023 MDEQ Website

The goal of the Dam Safety Program is to protect people and property from the damaging consequences of catastrophic dam failures. Since 1960, in the United States there have been at least 25 dam failures that caused one or more fatalities. The worst of these failures, in terms of loss of life, was the 1972 failure of a privately-owned tailings dam in Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, which devastated a 16-mile long valley with 6,000 inhabitants. As a result of that one failure, 125 people were killed and 3,000 were left homeless.

Each year, there are a number of dam failures in Mississippi and probably an equal number of dams that are breached under controlled conditions to avoid the possibility of a sudden failure. Some dam failures in the state have caused significant property damage, but there have been no fatalities in Mississippi attributable to a dam failure. Our goal is to provide sufficient oversight of the operational safety and structural integrity of dams in Mississippi to minimize the possibility of a life threatening catastrophic failure occurring at a dam that falls under our jurisdiction.