LOW-HEAD DAM BASICS
Safety Tips
Safety Tips
The following are important tips when swimming, fishing, or boating near low-head dams.
- When in doubt, get out and scout! Prepare and review your route in advance to locate potential dangers.
- Look at the park or other pertinent websites to see if there is information about low-head dams, or view locations of known low-head dams within the Low-Head Dam Inventory.
- Study a map or ask a local, such as a water or river guide, beforehand to locate potential dangers.
- Wear a personal floatation device (life vest) and never swim alone.
- If you see someone having trouble in the water or near a low-head dam, reach, throw, row, don't go.
- Alcohol and water do not mix. Never consume alcohol while boating or swimming.
- Low-head dams are submerged structures that generally extend from one side of a waterway to the other, restricting the flow of water and creating a small back-up of water behind them.
- They're usually low in height - 1 to 15 feet tall - making these dams difficult to spot from afar.
- As water flows over the top of low-head dams and falls, it creates a recirculating current that can pull people and debris down, up, and back toward the dam in an unrelenting cycle.
- Water flowing over a low-head dam creates a circular current at the base of the dam. This area is often called the boil zone that's characterized by water that appears to bubble or boil.
- Don't get close and never attempt to swim, float, or paddle over a low-head dam.
- Always hike or carry watercraft around the structure or turn around well before reaching this area of the waterway. This action is often called "portage." Signs or maps may reference points or areas designated for portage.
- To re-enter the waterway, go far enough downstream from the dam that you do not get pulled back into the recirculating current. Avoid the boil zone or bubbling water.
- Look for signs, buoys, and exclusion zones that help notify visitors that a dam is nearby.
- When in doubt, leave the river to get a better vantage point from the land. By walking on land, go around potentially dangerous spots in the river.
- If you are trapped, tuck your chin into your chest, draw your knees up and wrap your arms around them. Conditions may push you out of and away from the current, along the streambed.
- If someone else is trapped, don't jump in after them and don't approach the current from a boat in attempt to rescue.
- Get to the shore and call for help. About 25 percent of all low-head dam deaths result from attempts to rescue another person.
- Use a remote assistive device, such as a rope or throw bag, to try and pull them to safety.
