HIGH HAZARD POTENTIAL DAM (HHPD) PROGRAM
FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program (NDSP) is committed to protecting lives and property from the risks associated with dams. The Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dams Grant Program (HHPD) makes available federal funds to eligible states for pass through to non-Federal governmental organizations or nonprofit organizations for the rehabilitation of dams that fail to meet minimum dam safety standards and pose unacceptable risk to life and property.
For the purposes of the HHPD Program, rehabilitation means the repair, replacement, reconstruction, or removal of a dam that is carried out to meet applicable state dam safety and security standards.
Program objectives include:
1. Provide financial assistance for repair, removal, or rehabilitation of eligible high hazard potential dams.
2. Protect the federal investment by requiring operation and maintenance of the project for the 50-year period following completion of rehabilitation.
3. Encourage state, local, and territorial governments to consider all dam risk in state and local mitigation planning.
4. Promote community preparedness by requiring recipients to develop and implement floodplain management plans that address potential measures, practices, and policies to reduce loss of life, injuries, damage to property and facilities, public expenditures, and other adverse effects of flooding in the area impacted by the project; plans for flood fighting and evacuation; and public education and awareness of flood risks.
5. Reduce the potential consequences to life and property of high hazard potential dam incidents.
6. Incentivize states to incorporate risk-informed analysis and decision making into their dam safety practice.
7. Reduce the overall number of high hazard potential dams that pose an unacceptable risk to the public.
8. Promote a program of Emergency Action Plan (EAP) implementation, compliance, and exercise for high-hazard potential dams.
9. Reduce costs associated with dam rehabilitation through the deployment of innovative solutions and technologies.
