The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lists the Isabella Dam as the most at-risk in the nation, that's why a top army official got an in-person look at the 50-year-old facility.

John Paul Woodley, Jr. is the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and he spent Thursday morning in meetings and personally touring Isabella Dam.

As Eyewitness News was first to uncover last spring, the dam was pushed to the top of the Corps' priority list after new studies turned up increased concerns. Engineers are worried about the size of the spillway, recently-discovered active earthquake faults, and a condition called "seepage."

Seepage is when water gets under or through a dam. "I think that I would be most concerned about the seepage issue," Woodley told Eyewitness News. "However, that is largely mitigated by reducing the level of the pool."

The "pool" -- or amount of water in Isabella Reservoir -- was lowered last spring when the new studies came out. Engineers say that had reduced the pressure on the dam.

So far, they have also put in more pressure monitors and taken soil samples at the Auxiliary Dam. The high-level visit by Woodley was the next step in getting attention to the situation.

Woodley got a briefing from water experts, Bakersfield and Kern County officials -- and they all toured the dam.

County Supervisor Jon McQuiston is encouraged by the in-person attention. "I think it shows a committment by the Corps and Administration to fix the problem."

Woodley said he is encouraged by the cooperation he's seeing. "There appears to be a melding into a powerful team," he said of local, state and federal officials -- as well as engineers. "There are no surprises, no disconnects, and everybody is working together to achieve a rapid solution."

The Corps prioritizes dams based on several factors. First, is the risk to a dam. That is then compared to what the effects would be if the dam did fail.

In the case of Isabella, a catastrophy could lead to flooding in the community of Lake Isabella and much of Bakersfield downstream. Corps engineers say flooding downstream would affect a lot of people, major highways, agriculture and oil facilities.

They stress, the situation has been made safer with the lowering of the water level behind Isabella Dam.

But, how fast can a "fix" come for Isabella Dam? Corps Engineer John Hess tells Eyewitness News studies of the conditions could take two or three years. He predicts designing a fix could take another two years, followed by two or three years to build modifications.

Crops officials say it'll take federal funding, and they're watching that. "As Secretary Woodley indicated in his remarks -- we're waiting on Congress and our headquarters for the budget, "says Hess. "And that's going to dictate how fast we can move with our programs."

But, if fixing the situations at Isabella take ten years or so -- is that fast enough? "Certainly it's too long," Woodley told Eyewitness News. "And certainly, depending on what we find -- we may be able to accelerate things."

Engineer John Hess agrees it will take time to do it right. "We want to make sure that a remediation for this project -- whatever is needed -- is going to be done exceedingly well, exceedingly fast, and we do it right, once."