SALINE COUNTY, Ark. – Walking hand in hand, Mike Oglesby, his wife and their dog, Killer, enjoyed all of nature’s beauty. The two have only lived on a property along Lake Sandy in Saline County for about two years, but it quickly became a special place. 

“I love being on water and being able to have my own dock and canoe and fish,” Oglesby said. 

Recently while on a walk, Oglesby discovered something alarming at the Lake Sandy Dam. 

“Started noticing water running from beneath the dam in some places and several seeps,” he said. 

Oglesby started investigating and even put his own camera inside of a pipe to get a better view. 

“It looks as if there was failure happening in one of the pipes that leads under the dam,” Oglesby said. 

He called the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission to check out the dam. ANRC shared a letter about the inspection with FOX16. It said the Lake Sandy Dam has “internal erosion and voids could cause the dam to collapse.” Even though collapsing was a possibility, Engineering Supervisor Bill Ruck told FOX16 he does not consider this dam as a “high hazard” dam, meaning it won’t cause a significant amount of damage. Ruck also said it was clear there was a lack of maintenance of the dam, but the state cannot do anything to fix the problem. He said the ANRC is simply designed to assist owners. 

“The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission did not know about the dam until I brought it up,” Oglesby said. 

The ANRC said a dam must be 25 feet high in order to be regulated. The Lake Sandy Dam falls just below that requirement at 23 feet; therefore, no one regulates it. It is also privately owned, likely by the Lake Sandy Property Owners Association, which Oglesby said has been nonexistent for the last 20 year. 

This was not just a problem in Saline County. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the majority of dams in the United States were privately owned. A search on the National Inventory of Dams showed there were 1,263 dams reported in Arkansas, but the state only regulates 410 of those and could not tell FOX16 the condition of those dams. However, the ANRC said it feels the dams in Arkansas are all in good shape. 

“Getting the dam fixed is a top priority and how to do that? I haven’t a clue at this point.” 

In the meantime, Oglesby will continue warning his neighbors downstream about the potential danger. 

For a complete list of the dams that are on the National Inventory of Dams’ list, click here.