High Risk Dams in South Dakota

South Dakota has 23 high hazard dams with a condition assessment of poor or unsatisfactory. These are dams where failure would probably cause loss of human life and where recognized safety deficiencies have been identified.

Of the 85 high hazard dams in South Dakota, 23 (27%) have concerning condition ratings — 16 rated poor and 7 rated unsatisfactory.

Dam	County	Height (ft)	Condition	Purpose	Year
Oglala	Oglala Lakota	62	Unsatisfactory	Recreation	1941
Marindahl	Yankton	58	Poor	Recreation	1953
Richmond	Brown	52	Poor	Recreation	1935
Ghost Hawk	Todd	47	Unsatisfactory	Recreation	1975
Rank Dam	Buffalo	40	Poor	Recreation	1935
White Clay	Oglala Lakota	35	Unsatisfactory	Recreation	1936
Lake Corsica Dam	Douglas	32	Poor	Recreation	1939
King Dam No. 1	Haakon	30	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1960
Redfield Lake	Spink	30	Poor	Recreation	1939
Wolf Creek	Oglala Lakota	27	Unsatisfactory	Irrigation	1965
Clarence Smith Dam	Ziebach	25	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1958
Antelope	Todd	25	Poor	Recreation	1939
Allen	Bennett	24	Unsatisfactory	Recreation	1961
Cresbard Dam	Faulk	22	Poor	Recreation	1936
Mark Fisher Dam	Perkins	21	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1957
Bud Young Section 3	Ziebach	21	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1957
Ambrose	Hyde	21	Poor	Recreation	1935
Corn Creek	Mellette	20	Unsatisfactory	Irrigation
Bednar Dam	Ziebach	19	Poor	Recreation	1933
King Dam No. 2	Haakon	18	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1954
C. Vansickel	Meade	17	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1936
Kjerstad Dam No. 2	Pennington	14	Poor	Fire Protection, Stock, Or Small Fish Pond	1941
Custer West	Custer	13	Unsatisfactory	Recreation	1943

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