Like a bridge over troubled data...
The NICAR Database Library, part of Investigative Reporters & Editors, will release the National Inventory of Dams database. This is great for reporters. The database âhas been inaccessible for over a decadeâ as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has refused to disclose the full database since 2002. The Corps did post part of the data online in a publicly available searchable (but not downloadable) table. Of course, the data release isnât without complications.
Although this newly released data is very valuable, the USACE is still withholding some crucial information, such as the city nearest to the dam and the hazard ranking of the dam. The hazard ranking indicates how bad it would be if a dam fails; a dam is ranked "high hazard" if people will likely die in that event. While the USACE will not release that information on an individual basis, they do provide the total number of high hazard dams by state.
NICAR will release data on U.S. dams after a decade-long hiatus IRE.org (Sept. 23, 2015)











