What you can do
From the first tremor to the last structure downstream.
01Earthquakes
Every earthquake, measured against your dam
Each dam carries its own earthquake history from the USGS catalog. When a new quake is published, its magnitude and distance are checked against the response curves for that dam, so you know right away whether it calls for a response, and at what level.
84earthquakes of M2.5 and above in California and Nevada in the last 30 days.
Last 7 days (17) Earlier
Largest this month
M4.8 · 97 km W of Petrolia, CA
Sep 29, 4:36 AM PDT · 10 km deep
View on USGS
Earthquakes: USGS earthquake catalog, refreshed every 15 minutes. Imagery © Mapbox, © Maxar.
02Your portfolio
Every dam in the National Inventory
92,152
Dams from the National Inventory of Dams are already on the map, so your portfolio starts with its basics filled in, and so does the dam upstream of yours.
03Storms
See the rain coming
Every dam's rainfall forecast is checked against its own threshold, days ahead, alongside National Weather Service alerts and recent rainfall. When more rain is coming than a dam should see, the people responsible for it hear about it before the storm arrives.
04Instrumentation
Automated instrumentation, watched when you aren’t
Automated readings come in from your loggers day and night, and every one is checked against its thresholds the moment it arrives, including how fast it is changing. Nobody has to be looking.
- Alerts that find you. Cross a threshold and the people responsible for the dam hear about it by email and in the app, and by text if they choose.
- Silence is an alert too. If a sensor stops reporting, you hear about that as well.
- Manual and automated, one record. Hand-taken readings from the field, the DamCollect app or a spreadsheet sit on the same chart as the automated trace, and the history carries on when a sensor is replaced. Few systems put the two side by side.
05Hydrology
Your watershed, delineated for you
The tributary area above each dam is traced automatically and checked against its recorded drainage area, with the tributary arms and the dams upstream that catch runoff first. Then walk the divide in 3D terrain.
Lake Oroville and the Feather River, California. Imagery © Mapbox, © Maxar.
And on every dam
Know who is downstream
For California dams, the regulator-approved inundation map is pulled in with a count of what sits inside it: every structure with its daytime and nighttime population, plus schools, hospitals, child care centers and other critical facilities.
Field inspections, start to report
Guided inspection checklists, observations pinned to the map with photos and measurements, a report editor, and engineer-of-record review, all kept against the dam.
Join the community
Dam safety is a small field with a big job. Learn, share, shop and keep up with the people doing it.
