North Carolina Dam Safety Requirements
What the Dam Safety Law of 1967 and 15A NCAC 02K actually require of a dam owner in North Carolina — which dams are regulated, how they are classified, when a permit is needed, and who has to file an emergency action plan. Written for owners and engineers rather than lawyers, with every requirement tied to the statute or rule that imposes it.
North Carolina regulates dams under G.S. 143-215.23 through 143-215.37 (the Dam Safety Law of 1967) and 15A NCAC 02K. The program sits in the Dam Safety Program, Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources, NCDEQ.
Dams are classified A (low), B (intermediate) or C (high) hazard by downstream consequence — not by size. Class B and Class C dams must have an approved emergency action plan. Construction, repair, alteration and removal require written approval from the Department.
North Carolina by the numbers
North Carolina has 3,687 dams in the National Inventory of Dams. It has 1,678 high-hazard dams — more than any other state in the country, including Texas, which has roughly twice as many dams overall. 46% of North Carolina's dams are high-hazard, against a national rate near 18%.
| Measure | Count | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total dams | 3,687 | 8th nationally |
| Class C / high hazard | 1,678 | 1st nationally |
| Class B / intermediate | 660 | NID labels these "significant" |
| Class A / low hazard | 1,349 | |
| EAP required by statute | 2,338 | Class B + Class C |
| — with no EAP recorded | 1,161 | 50% of those required |
| Rated Poor | 331 | |
| Rated Unsatisfactory | 67 | |
| Median year completed | 1963 | 63 years old |
| Earthfill | 3,360 | 91% of all NC dams |
The four things an owner has to get right
1. Is the dam regulated at all?
Eight categories of dam are exempt under G.S. 143-215.25A — federal construction, FERC and NRC projects, certain NRCS-assisted dams, single-ownership dams that threaten nobody downstream, agricultural dams meeting specific conditions, and two size-based exemptions. The size exemptions are the ones most often misread, because they are conditional rather than absolute. Full exemption criteria →
2. What hazard class is it?
Classification under 15A NCAC 02K .0105 turns on what is downstream, not on how big the dam is. A six-foot pond dam above an occupied house is Class C. A forty-foot dam above nothing but timber can be Class A. The design engineer proposes the classification and the Director approves it. Class A / B / C criteria →
3. Does it need an emergency action plan?
Yes, if it is Class B or Class C. G.S. 143-215.31(a1) requires an EAP within 90 days of classification and an update every year. Of the 2,338 North Carolina dams that need one, 1,161 have no plan recorded — a 50% gap. What the plan must contain →
4. Does the work need approval?
Construction, repair, alteration and removal all require written approval under G.S. 143-215.27. Emergency repairs may begin immediately but must be reported within 24 hours. Removal by a qualified engineer requires 60 days' notice and the engineer's North Carolina license number. Approval process →
Dams by county
92 of North Carolina's 100 counties have at least one dam in the inventory. The 25 largest are below; "no EAP" counts only dams where an EAP is statutorily required.
| County | Dams | Class C | Class B | No EAP | Poor/Unsat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wake | 366 | 208 | 78 | 152 | 38 |
| Guilford | 187 | 85 | 8 | 38 | 7 |
| Mecklenburg | 159 | 89 | 37 | 51 | 8 |
| Moore | 136 | 63 | 7 | 30 | 10 |
| Forsyth | 112 | 57 | 13 | 23 | 5 |
| Randolph | 110 | 34 | 4 | 19 | 3 |
| Rockingham | 93 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| Cumberland | 91 | 54 | 4 | 27 | 17 |
| Henderson | 85 | 45 | 35 | 38 | 11 |
| Iredell | 84 | 27 | 15 | 16 | 3 |
| Transylvania | 79 | 51 | 25 | 36 | 23 |
| Buncombe | 75 | 55 | 15 | 38 | 2 |
| Union | 69 | 35 | 16 | 28 | 4 |
| Durham | 67 | 39 | 13 | 22 | 3 |
| Chatham | 66 | 26 | 16 | 20 | 8 |
| Stokes | 65 | 29 | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| Gaston | 60 | 23 | 17 | 24 | 3 |
| Rutherford | 59 | 22 | 18 | 15 | 13 |
| Jackson | 58 | 36 | 18 | 13 | 10 |
| Harnett | 57 | 30 | 8 | 24 | 14 |
| Johnston | 55 | 11 | 16 | 23 | 7 |
| Cabarrus | 55 | 27 | 16 | 26 | 1 |
| Macon | 55 | 33 | 19 | 24 | 24 |
| Surry | 47 | 22 | 3 | 12 | 0 |
| Alamance | 46 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 0 |
All 66 counties with published inventory pages:
Alamance · Alexander · Anson · Avery · Bladen · Buncombe · Burke · Cabarrus · Caldwell · Caswell · Catawba · Chatham · Cherokee · Cleveland · Cumberland · Davidson · Davie · Duplin · Durham · Edgecombe · Forsyth · Franklin · Gaston · Guilford · Halifax · Harnett · Haywood · Henderson · Hoke · Iredell · Jackson · Johnston · Lee · Lincoln · Macon · Madison · McDowell · Mecklenburg · Mitchell · Montgomery · Moore · Nash · Northampton · Orange · Person · Pitt · Polk · Randolph · Richmond · Rockingham · Rowan · Rutherford · Sampson · Scotland · Stanly · Stokes · Surry · Swain · Transylvania · Union · Wake · Watauga · Wayne · Wilkes · Wilson · Yadkin
These rules, worked on a real structure
A 22-ft earthfill dam impounding 145 acre-feet with one dwelling downstream — which describes a very large share of North Carolina's inventory — taken through breach parameters, the 1.5-foot flood rise test, the exemption decision tree, and spillway design flood selection.
Calculators for the work these rules require
Data source. Dam counts, hazard classifications, condition ratings and EAP status are computed directly from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams national extract, stamped 2026-8-28. NID reflects what state and federal programs have reported to USACE; it can lag a state program's own records, and an "EAP Prepared: No" flag means no plan is recorded in NID rather than proof that no plan exists. Figures here are computed from the raw extract, not quoted from secondary reporting.
Scope. This page is general information about North Carolina dam safety regulation, current as of 2026-08-28. It is not an engineering opinion about any specific structure and it is not legal advice. Requirements change when the General Assembly amends the Dam Safety Law or the Environmental Management Commission amends the rules — always confirm against the current text of the statute and 15A NCAC 02K, and contact the NCDEQ Dam Safety Program for a determination that binds.