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<br />Out of frustration and economit necessity, many <br />owners of nonfederal dams have asked the federal agency <br />that initially assisted with design and construction fo' <br />help. Normally, the agencies lack the authority to <br />provide more than technical assistance to the owners in <br />upgrading the structure to meet current criteria. <br /> <br />4.2.2 Conclusions <br /> <br />Considering the technical involvement of the U.S. <br />government in the initial construction, the federal <br />government has a degree of continuing responsibility fo' <br />such nonfederal dams. Either on ita own or through the <br />Interagency Committee on Dam Safety, FEMA should prepar, <br />guidelines for emergency preparedness plans that can b~ <br />used by d,am oWners and state regulatory agencies in <br />prepsring fOr possible failures of dams initially <br />engineered and constructed with federal assistance. <br /> <br />To assist in planning related federal activities, <br />FEMA should ,maintain a central inventory of nonfederal <br />dams that fall under federal permit, assistance and <br />regulatory programs. Some agencies prese~tly have <br />inventories of nonfederal dams falling under their <br />programs; these would facilitate the compilation of a <br />c~ntral inventory. . <br /> <br />Federal agencies should advise dam owners and <br />potential dam owners on the hazard-classification <br />consequences of downatream land use changes. (Thia <br />information should also be furnished to state and local <br />zoning authorities.) Further, they should insist on <br />strict compliance with operation and maintenance <br />agreements and work with state governments in designing <br />and instituting dam safety programs. <br /> <br />-22- <br />