Penn State Owned Dams
Dams are large impoundments that are regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PaDEP) in order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. The University owns six (6) regulated dams, five (5) of which are located at or near the University Park Campus. The dams require annual inspections and five of them require Emergency Action Plans (EAPs) that are updated every 5 years. The University’s largest dam is the Shaver's Creek Dam, which is a 540-foot long earthen fill dam approximately 46 feet deep, and was constructed in 1959 at a cost of $250,000. A photograph of the Shaver's Creek Dam emergency spillway is shown below.
List of University Owned Dams
| PaDEP Dam Number | Dam Name | PaDEP Class | Hazzard Classification |
| 14-121 | University Park Airport Pond 1A | C | 1 |
| 14-122 | Bathgate Detention Pond | C | 1 |
| 14-123 | University Park Airport Pond 4A | C | 3 |
| 14-092 | Duck Pond | C | 4 |
| 31-072 | Shaver's Creek | B | 1 |
| 22-090 | Hershey Campus - Pond No 1 | C | 1 |
Emergency Action Plans (EAP)
EAPs are a formal document that identifies potential emergency conditions at a dam and specifies preplanned actions to be followed to minimize property damage and loss of life. It contains procedures and information to assist the dam owner in issuing early warning and notification messages to responsible downstream emergency management authorities of the emergency situation. It also contains inundation maps to show the emergency management authorities the critical areas for action in case of an emergency.
A simplified supplemental Water Resource Publication has been created for University staff to show important aspects of the EAPs as they relate to on-site inspection and operation:
The complete approved EAPs and their Inundation Area Maps (IAM) are available (for the Hershey Medical Campus Dam, please contact that Campus directly):
If you have additional questions regarding dams at the University, please contact Larry Fennessey, stormwater operations engineer at 814-863-8743.