National Dam Safety Program Publications

The National Dam Safety Program provides a variety of publications, including:

  • Research Needs Workshop Reports
  • Technical Manuals, Guides and Reports
  • Technical Advisories
  • Safety Series Fact Sheets
  • Response and Recovery (R&R) Dam Response Operations Matrices
  • Dam Safety & Risk MAP/Flood Mapping Studies Fact Sheet Series
  • DSS-WISE Fact Sheets
  • FEMA P-1015, Technical Manual: Overtopping Protection for Dams (ZIP, 410MB)

Search for Dam Safety Publications

Search for documents below, or view our pages on Federal Guidelines, National Dam Safety Program Information, Resources for the General Public, or Resources for States.

You can order publications from the FEMA Distribution Center.

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Technical Manual for Dam Owners: Impacts of Plants on Earthen Dams (FEMA 534) (Text Version)

Tree and woody vegetation penetrations of earthen dams and their appurtenances have been demonstrated to be causes of serious structural deterioration and distress that can result in the failure of earthen dams. Damage to earthen dams resulting from plant and animal penetrations is a significant dam safety issue in the United States. The purpose of this technical manual for Dam Owners is to advance awareness of the characteristics and seriousness of dam safety problems associated with tree and woody vegetation growth impacts on earthen dams, provide a higher level of understanding of dam safety issues by reviewing current damage control policies, provide state-of-practice guidance for remediation design considerations associated with damages associated with tree and woody vegetation growth on earthen dams, and to provide a rationale and state-of-practice techniques and procedures for the management of desirable and undesirable vegetation on earthen dams.

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Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

Today, tens of thousands of conduits through embankment dams in the United States are aging and deteriorating. Many of these conduits were poorly constructed and are not frequently inspected, if at all. With each passing year, deteriorating conduits pose an increasingly greater risk for developing defects that can lead to embankment dam failure. This technical manual provides procedures and guidance for “best practices” for the design, construction, problem identification and evaluation, inspection, maintenance, renovation, and repair associated with conduits through embankment dams. The technical manual is intended for use by personnel familiar with embankment dams and conduits, such as designers, inspectors, construction oversight personnel, and dam safety engineers. The technical manual includes more than 280 illustrative figures, 34 case histories, and an extensive glossary.

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Technical Manual: Plastic Pipe Used in Embankment Dams (FEMA P-675)

This technical manual provides the procedures and guidance for “best practices” concerning the design, construction, problem identification and evaluation, inspection, maintenance, renovation, and repair associated with plastic pipe used in embankment dams.The manual provides in-depth analyses of loading conditions, structural design, and hydraulic design of plastic pipe, and is intended for use by personnel familiar with embankment dams, drains, siphons, and conduits, such as designers, inspectors, construction oversight personnel, and dam safety engineers.

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Technical Manual: Plastic Pipe Used in Embankment Dams (FEMA P-675) (Text Version)

This technical manual provides the procedures and guidance for “best practices” concerning the design, construction, problem identification and evaluation, inspection, maintenance, renovation, and repair associated with a plastic pipe used in embankment dams. The manual provides in-depth analyses of loading conditions, structural design, and hydraulic design of plastic pipe, and is intended for use by personnel familiar with embankment dams, drains, siphons, and conduits, such as designers, inspectors, construction oversight personnel, and dam safety engineers.

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The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program | Ryan Janda - 2020 NDSP Technical Seminar Presentation

2020 NDSP Technical Seminar Presentation
The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program | Ryan Janda

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The National Dam Safety Program Biennial Report to the United States Congress, Fiscal Years 2014–2015

In fiscal years 2014 and 2015, the NDSP was guided by FEMA P-916, Strategic Plan for the National Dam Safety Program Fiscal Years 2012 through 2016. All goals and objectives from the NDSP strategic plan have been met for the reporting period. Throughout this report, activities performed that were related to accomplishing an overall goal or a specific objective have been noted.

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The National Dam Safety Program Biennial Report to the United States Congress, Fiscal Years 2016-2017

All goals and objectives from the NDSP strategic plan have been met for the reporting period. Throughout this report, activities performed that were related to accomplishing an overall goal or specific objective have been noted.

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The National Dam Safety Program Biennial Report to the United States Congress, Fiscal Years 2018–2019

Between FY 2018-2019, FEMA demonstrated progress toward all goals and objectives in the 2017-2021 NDSP Strategic Plan. Throughout this Biennial Report, activities performed that were related to a strategic goal or objective are noted. See figure 2 for a breakdown of these goals and objectives.

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The National Dam Safety Program Research Needs Workshop: (FEMA 536)

This workshop report documents the state of practice concerning cost-effective techniques for the enlargement, modification, inspection, monitoring, and maintenance of dam service and emergency spillways. The report discusses dam safety research needs related to dam spillways, i.e., the short-term and long-term needs of the federal and non-federal dam safety community, and recommends a course of action to address those research needs.

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The National Dam Safety Program Research Needs Workshop: Embankment Dam Failure Analysis (FEMA 541)

For this workshop, 35 national and international experts participated in discussions on research and new technology related to risk assessment, embankment dam failure, and flood routing. The experts identified 14 priority areas for research, including the updating, revision, and dissemination of the historic data set/database of dam failures; development of forensic guidelines and standards for dam safety expert use when reporting dam failures or dam incidents; creation of a forensic team that would be able to collect and disseminate valuable forensic data; identification of critical parameters for different types of failure modes; and basic physical research to model different dam parameters, such as soil properties and scaling effects, with the intent to verify the ability to model actual dam failure characteristics and extend dam failure knowledge using scale models.