FEMA announced a $7.4 million funding opportunity to support dam safety programs across all 50 states and U.S. territories on Aug. 18, targeting inspection, engineering, and emergency planning for the nation’s aging dam infrastructure.
The funding is available through FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program, which provides grants to states and territories to hire dam safety engineers, conduct inspections, and develop emergency action plans, the agency said.
The United States has more than 90,000 dams tracked in the National Inventory of Dams, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Thousands of those structures are rated as high-hazard potential, meaning their failure could result in loss of life and significant downstream damage.
For Americans living downstream of aging dams, the safety funding addresses a critical infrastructure vulnerability. Dam failures can cause catastrophic flooding with little warning, destroying homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure in flood zones.
The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s dam infrastructure a D grade in its most recent infrastructure report card, citing chronic underinvestment in maintenance, inspection, and rehabilitation.
The $7.4 million will be distributed across states and territories through a competitive grant process. Recipient programs will use the funds to expand inspection capacity, update emergency action plans, and address identified safety deficiencies.
Many dams across the United States were built in the mid-20th century and are approaching or exceeding their design lifetimes. State dam safety programs, which bear primary regulatory responsibility for non-federal dams, have reported persistent funding and staffing shortages.
FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program has provided grants to states since the 1990s. The funding supplements state-level investment but does not cover the full cost of dam rehabilitation, which the ASCE has estimated requires tens of billions of dollars nationally.