The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has developed a dam safety program to protect lives and property by ensuring that structures within the program are designed, constructed, and maintained as safely and reliably as practicable. This program applies to dams, dikes, impoundments, levees, water barrier components, pumping stations, and other appurtenant structures that are included in TVA’s Dam Safety Program inventory. Due to the importance of maintenance and inspections to the reliable operation of assets, we performed an evaluation of TVA dams to determine if maintenance and inspections had been performed in accordance with established schedules. TVA has generally performed maintenance but has not performed all inspections in accordance with established schedules for TVA dams. We identified 43 inspections that were between 1 and 99 months late and 33 that were not performed. We also determined that TVA had not taken actions to address 34 recommendations from inspections completed in fiscal years 2022 through 2024 or the most recent risk assessments. Additionally, we identified some areas where governance could be improved related to inaccuracies in inspection manuals and inspections.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, develop a plan to prioritize and complete overdue inspections. | |||||
| 2 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, emphasize the importance of recording the correct completion date for informal inspections. | |||||
| 3 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, evaluate the open recommendations and determine a priority and schedule for completion. | |||||
| 4 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, evaluate the engineering task list and determine if open items should be closed, addressed, or left on the list. | |||||
| 5 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, revise operations, maintenance, and inspection manuals to include an accurate listing of required inspections for all dams. | |||||
| 6 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, add required frequency for all inspections. | |||||
| 7 | No | $0 | $0 | ||
| We recommend the Vice President, River Operations, emphasize the importance of reviewing required weekly inspections and inspecting all monthly checklist items for supplemental inspections. | |||||
