Mark E. Baker. P.E. has been an industry leader in dam failures and incidents for the last 10 years
Founder and Co-Chair of the Dam Failures & Incident Committee
Mark Baker founded the ASDSO Dam Failures & Incidents Committee (DFIC) in 2010 and has co-led the committee since that time. Under his leadership the committee has grown to over 20 members, and several subcommittees and project teams. Each year dedicated members perform historical research and engineering analyses to present the Decadal Dam Failures at the ASDSO national conference. Another subcommittee is dedicated to documenting and learning the lessons from individual dam failures at www.damfailures.org
Led the team that developed the first industry Dam Failure Investigation Guideline
Mark formed and led a team of well-qualified ASDSO members to develop a 30-page guideline for dam failure investigation best practices and how to avoid pitfalls. The team included Alon Dominitz, Irfan Alvi, Jason Boyle, Bob Clay, Warren Harris, Tami Idol, Wayne King, Mark Ogden, Jim Pawlowski and Neil Schwanz. The guidelines address:
Setting up the investigation
Ensuring the independence of team members
Dealing with multiple investigations
Sources of funding
Data collection at the site
Recommended report content
DOI Incident Management Team
Mark led the 2010 U.S.Department of the Interior Incident Management team as a project under the Reduce Dam Safety Risk initiative. Mark led representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Surface Mining and the National Park Service to collect and document their dam incidents and identify lessons learned in all aspects of incident detection, response, emergency management, and reporting.
Historical researcher and presenter of the race to save Fontenelle Dam
The Bureau of Reclamation’s Fontenelle Dam came very close to failing after construction in 1965. Mark performed years of original primary historical research and has developed a captivating, 90-minute, visual-based story of the event. The incident has important lessons for today’s dam and engineering professionals. He has presented the Race to Save Fontenelle Dam to over 3,000 people at a total of of 21 events. Pictures, videos and Mark’s technical paper can be fond here. Reviews of the Race to Save Fontenelle Dam, can be found at the “Reviews” button below.
A short film: The Lawn Lake Dam Failure
Mark researched, wrote, and produced a short film called Managing the Risks of Dams and it features the Lawn Lake Dam failure. Mark’ and Bill McCormick’s technical paper and other information on this failure can be found here.
For the Oroville Spillway incident in 2017
Mark was part of a joint ASDSO/USSD panel that selected the independent Forensic Team members.
Spencer Dam on the Nebraska Niobrara River failed March 14, 2019