Earth fissures are a significant threat to various types of infrastructure in the Southwestern United States and elsewhere in the world. They are caused by differing subsidence rates and magnitudes associated with groundwater pumping in alluvial basins. In this paper, Ravi Murthy and his co-author Jon Benoist, both with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, examine the impact that earth fissuring has on embankment dams used for flood control. One of their main dilemmas as regulators is: "Is it possible to safely rehabilitate dams in fissure risk zones to continue to provide economical flood protection to the public, or does the risk of dam failure due to an undetected fissure present too great a threat to the public?" Check out the HTML Version.