Maui, HI

West Maui Dam Safety Program

Client: County of Maui Department of Public Works
Our Role: Dam Safety Engineering

Large grass-covered embankment dam with broad slopes and surrounding vegetation.

The County of Maui Department of Public Works needed to modernize and strengthen its dam safety program for nine county-owned flood-control dams across West and Central Maui. Gaps between existing documents and current regulatory and industry practices created exposure to risk for the county. GFT combined dam safety engineering, emergency management, hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, geographic information system (GIS) mapping, regulatory review, training, and interagency coordination into a unified program. The engagement was designed to bring emergency preparedness documentation, flood-hazard analysis, and operational practices up to current standards and to build the organizational capacity needed to sustain those improvements over the long term.

Key Features

Integrated dam safety engineering and emergency management services for nine county-owned dams.
Master emergency action plan (EAP) framework with facility-specific appendices, standardized notification procedures, and emergency response guidance.
Updated and newly developed operations and maintenance manuals supporting inspection, monitoring, maintenance, and regulatory reporting.
Risk-informed dam improvement priorities based on document review, state inspection findings, and site observations.
Updated hydrology and two-dimensional HEC-RAS dam-breach modeling, inundation mapping, and evacuation-zone development for eight facilities.
EAP training and a Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP)-compliant tabletop exercise involving county, state, emergency management, law enforcement, and public works partners.

Outcomes

Established a consistent, countywide framework for dam emergency preparedness and operational documentation.
Improved the county’s ability to identify, classify, communicate, and coordinate response to dam-related emergencies.
Provided defensible flood-hazard and evacuation information to support emergency planning and public-safety decisions.
Strengthened coordination among Maui County, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, emergency management agencies, and response partners.
Created an actionable foundation for long-term dam safety risk reduction, regulatory compliance, and capital improvement planning.