Drawing of a dam showing various causes of dam failures. The following failures are shown:

• Trees and brush-An arrow showing where trees and brush have grown on the dam.
  
  
• Rodent activitiy-An arrow points to the drawing of a rodent on the crest of a dam.
  
  
• Cracking-An arrow points to a large crack going through the crest of the dam.
  
  
• Low area in crest of dam-An arrow shows where the crest of the dam has sunk a little allowing water to seep over.
  
  
• Piping-An arrow points to the piping going through the dam from the reservoir side to the downstream side.
  
  
• Stability failure (internal)-An arrow points to cracking at the base of the dam.
  
  
• Erosion at outlet (scour hole)-An arrow points to an area of erosion at the base of the concrete outlet where the outlet pipe ends.
  
  
• Concrete failure-An arrow shows a large crack in the concrete outlet.
  
  
• Boil-An arrow shows were water from below the surface has come out of the ground on the downstream side.
  
  
• Slump-An arrow shows where an area of soil that covered the dam has eroded and slid down the side.
  
  
• Seepage at abutment contact (groin)-An arrow shows were water is seeping through the dam on the downstream side.