Hundreds of B.C. dams in need of repair: report

The B.C. government says an investigation of small dams across the province has turned up four small dams that required immediate repairs and hundreds more that also need work.

The investigation was undertaken following the June 13 collapse of the Testalinden dam near Oliver.

The collapse triggered a slide that buried six homes and damaged a number of others south of the Okanagan city, about 250 kilometres east of Vancouver. There were no injuries.

The four dams that needed immediate repairs are at Goertzen Pond near Osoyoos, Grafton Lake on Bowen Island, Eagle Rock Reservoir south of Chase, and Allan Spring in Saanich, said B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner.

"We directed the owners to take [the emergency] steps," said Penner. "I'm advised that those actions have been implemented or are currently underway."

Most of the 379 other dams cited in the report as needing some level of repair are privately owned or maintained, and the owners are responsible for their upkeep.

Given the type of ownership, there should be regular audits of all dams across the province, said Mark Angelo, an instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

"The vast majority of dams in B.C. are smaller and privately held," said Angelo. "Hence they're not always maintained to an appropriate level and I think that's something we have to improve on."

The ministry said in a release Thursday that it recently hired four new staff members dedicated to dam safety.