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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Dams in the united States represent an enormous invest- ment and a vital element in the national infrastructure. Every citizen shares in some way in the benefits provided by dams. Unfortunately, dams that are inadequately designed, constructed, operated, and maintained can fail, sometimes disastrously. A series of catastrophic dam failures in the last half- century has led to various Federal and state initiatives to assure the safety of dams. This report, developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in response to its multiple responsibilities for coordinating and assisting dam safety programs, is a summary and evaluation of the present status of those initiatives. Although it is a FEMA report, it was developed largely through the efforts of persons outside of the Agency and, therefore, attempts to present independent assessments. More than a score of Federal agencies and five Cabinet officers have some responsibilities for dams. These agencies own about 3,000 dams, have regulatory authority over about 5,000 non-Federal dams, and have various other types of responsibilities for additional tens of thousands of non-Federal dams. In October 1979, following a decade of very costly dam failures, President Carter directed all Federal agencies with responsibilities for dams to implement the newly- developed Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety and to provide the Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency, reports on that implementation. Most of the agencies have furnished FEMA four reports covering implementation activities through fiscal year 1985. The present report provides a review of those agency reports. In general, the Federal agencies have been diligent in implementing the Federal Guidelines and have made good progress, although several agencies owning dams are several years from completion of remedial actions needed to improve the safety of existing dams. Other Federal agencies, particularly those in which dams and dam safety activities are secondary to main mission objectives, have not been so diligent either in assuring the safety of their own dams or in exercising regulatory authority over non-Federal dams. A number of Federal agencies face funding and manpower constraints that hinder their capability to assure the safety of their own dams. The Federal government, neverthe- less, has serious responsibilities to its citizens to assure Executive summary - page 1