Dam safety

Dam Safety by State

By Michael Flynn, PE · water resources & dam safety engineer

Every state with dams in the national inventory: how many, how many are high hazard, how many lack an emergency action plan, and where the governing law lives. Requirements are published only for states verified against current primary sources — everywhere else this gives you the numbers, the citation, and a direct link to that state's programme contact, so no state is a dead end.

How to read the last column

Full requirements means the statute and administrative code have been read and the obligations written up, with a last-verified date on the page. Inventory + citation means verified inventory data and a pointer to where the law lives, but no summary of what it requires — because a six-year-old paraphrase of a dam safety statute is worse than no paraphrase at all.

All states with regulated dams — NID extract 2026-8-28
StateDamsHigh hazardNo EAPGapCoverageContact
Alabama2,26622817878.1%Full requirementsprogramme
Alaska1123126.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Arizona393170137.6%Inventory + citationprogramme
Arkansas1,27119794.6%Inventory + citationprogramme
California1,534877536.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Colorado1,98447430.6%Inventory + citationprogramme
Connecticut1,316282165.7%Inventory + citationprogramme
Delaware835747.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Florida1,0801045451.9%Inventory + citationprogramme
Georgia5,4125566010.8%Full requirementsprogramme
Hawaii12511832.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Idaho40610621.9%Inventory + citationprogramme
Illinois1,6332525019.8%Inventory + citationprogramme
Indiana1,09228212644.7%Inventory + citationprogramme
Iowa4,1289577.4%Inventory + citationprogramme
Kansas6,4913283510.7%Inventory + citationprogramme
Kentucky1,07427782.9%Inventory + citationprogramme
Louisiana7484212.4%Inventory + citationprogramme
Maine5867900.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Maryland4251076964.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Massachusetts1,35634241.2%Inventory + citationprogramme
Michigan1,03916142.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Minnesota1,1565900.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Mississippi6,0923494011.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Missouri5,3851,478513.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Montana3,029214167.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Nebraska2,98516421.2%Inventory + citationprogramme
Nevada51316300.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
New Hampshire66516331.8%Inventory + citationprogramme
New Jersey83123200.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
New Mexico42025511545.1%Inventory + citationprogramme
New York1,94145130.7%Inventory + citationprogramme
North Carolina3,6871,67863537.8%Full requirementsprogramme
North Dakota9505535.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Ohio1,4024218119.2%Inventory + citationprogramme
Oklahoma5,011446317.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Oregon88417321.2%Inventory + citationprogramme
Pennsylvania1,492788374.7%Inventory + citationprogramme
Rhode Island235954648.4%Inventory + citationprogramme
South Carolina2,44067916824.7%Full requirementsprogramme
South Dakota2,5499344.3%Inventory + citationprogramme
Tennessee1,23227500.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Texas7,4211,64832819.9%Inventory + citationprogramme
Utah87928351.8%Inventory + citationprogramme
Vermont3716900.0%Inventory + citationprogramme
Virginia2,712452378.2%Full requirementsprogramme
Washington835416358.4%Inventory + citationprogramme
West Virginia56444811525.7%Inventory + citationprogramme
Wisconsin99619894.5%Inventory + citationprogramme
Wyoming1,49810298.8%Inventory + citationprogramme

National totals and the downloadable dataset are on the high-hazard EAP gap page.

Data source. All counts computed from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers National Inventory of Dams national extract, stamped 2026-8-28.

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