Dam Safety Awareness Week

Dam Safety is a shared responsibility. Know your risk, know your role, know the benefits of dams and take action.

National Dam Safety Awareness Day occurs on May 31 of each year to commemorate the failure of the South Fork Dam in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1889. The dam failure resulted in the loss of more than 2,200 lives and was the worst dam failure in the history of the United States.

National Dam Safety Awareness Day was created to encourage and promote individual and community responsibility for dam safety, as well as to provide information on what steps can be taken to prevent future catastrophic dam failures. A secondary goal is to promote the benefits dams offer to communities.

For over 30 years, the federal government has been working to protect Americans from dam failure through FEMA’s National Dam Safety Program (NDSP). The program is a partnership of states, federal agencies and other stakeholders to encourage individual and community responsibility for dam safety.

While dams provide many benefits to communities, such as the storage of drinking water and the improvement of wildlife habitats, they can also pose a significant flood risk if they fail. Dam safety is a shared responsibility, and everyone is encouraged to know their risk (and benefits), know their role, and take action.

Additional information on national dam safety is available by clicking the link.