Resource Center: Dams & Levees

Overview

The IIJA provides $2.3 billion to ensure the safety of the nation’s dams. Investments accelerating rehabilitation, retrofitting, and removal activities for the more than 90,000 dams in the United States will protect communities from catastrophic dam failures, support renewable energy production, and support environmental protection.

ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card recommended fully funding the national dam rehabilitation and repair program at $40 million annually, which the infrastructure bill would address. Additionally, the bill would go a long way to ensure that funds are available for states to develop emergency action plans for high-hazard dams.

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Legislation Summary

Investments include $733 million for FEMA assistance grants, as well as $67 million for FEMA operations and support for dam safety activities and assistance to states under the National Dam Safety Program. The $733 million for FEMA assistance is broken out to $148 million for grants to states for dam safety programs and $585 million for high hazard dam rehabilitation grants to states, with $75 million set aside for dam removal. The bill also includes $118 million in grants for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conversation Service Small Watershed Rehab Program.

Furthermore, the bill includes $64 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers WIFIA program for safety projects to maintain, upgrade, and repair dams identified in the National Inventory of Dams and owned by either a state or local government, public utility, or private dam owner. The Corps WIFIA program received its first appropriation in fiscal year 2021, with a total appropriation of $12 million. ASCE has been a strong advocate of the Corps WIFIA program.

The IIJA addresses environment restoration by investing in a number of existing programs, with a total of $2.6 billion to provide for ecosystem restoration. This includes $500 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) aquatic ecosystem restoration program, which works to restore degraded ecosystem structures, and natural processes to a more natural condition. Also included is $1.8 billion for EPA ecosystems restoration projects (such as the Great Lake Restoration Initiative, Chesapeake Bay Program, and others). Plus $207 million for NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management Program.

Finally, the bill also includes:

$800 million to restore riverways and ecosystems through dam removal activities
$115 million for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore fish and wildlife passage by removing in-stream barriers and provide technical assistance to non-Federal partners. Additionally, the bill includes another $200 million for dam removal programs at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and $400 million for dams under NOAA.
$100 million for the rehabilitation, reconstruction, or replacement of dams under the Bureau of Reclamation.
$200 million for dam safety and water sanitation at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
$100 million annually, over five years for the Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation (STORM) Act. ASCE strongly advocated for increased appropriations for the STORM Act, which was enacted earlier this year and created a Resilience Revolving Loan Fund.
For flood resilience the measure includes $7 billion for Corps of Engineers infrastructure priorities; $3.5 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Flood Mitigation Assistance Program; $492 million for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Coastal Resilience Fund; and $491 million for NOAA Community-Based Restoration Project.
The bill would make an additional $1 billion available in grants for the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program. BRIC is FEMA’s pre-disaster hazard mitigation program that replaces the existing Pre-Disaster Mitigation (PDM) program and a program that ASCE continues to strongly advocate for.
The IIJA addresses droughts with $2.5 billion over 5-years for the Aging Infrastructure Account for Bureau of Reclamation water resources projects; $500 million over 5-years for the Western Area Power Administration; and $100 million for Drought Contingency Planning.

Report Card Wins

The passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – IIJA – represents a historic, once-in-a-generation investment in our roads, bridges, water and wastewater networks, ports, electric grid, dams, and more. It increases funding, makes smart improvements to policy such as streamlining permitting, and it creates new programs targeted at all 17 categories in the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The bill is a significant down payment on the $2.5 trillion infrastructure investment gap that was identified in the 2021 Report Card and will benefit American businesses and families for years to come.

IIJA addresses 3 of ASCE’s recommendations concerning dams and levees. ASCE recommendations address the need the fund the national dam rehabilitation and repair and national levee safety programs.

The IIJA provides $800 million to rehabilitate high hazard potential dams as well as additional funding for dam programs at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. IIJA provides $251 million for the repair of damages to existing projects, including nonfederal levees and shore protection through the Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies (FCCE) account