ASDSO Resources

On this page:

• Awareness Materials
• Owner Education
• Guidance Materials
• Additional ASDSO Websites
• Videos
• Members Only Materials

Awareness Materials 

Dam Failures and Incidents: Essential Lessons for Dam Safety Practitioners
The 300-plus-page hardcover book is the culmination of more than a decade of research by the ASDSO Dam Failures and Incidents Committee. It includes more than 100 case studies spanning from the 1800s to 2020 and a comprehensive review of the aspects and processes of how and why dam failures and incidents occur.

ASDSO Podcast: A Dam Conversation With...
A Dam Conversation With... is the official podcast of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. It features interviews with industry leaders and shares stories of career development, lessons learned, industry history, and more. A Dam Conversation With... launched in September 2024 and is available on all major podcasting platforms.

Living Near Dams: Know Your Risks 
Dams provide drinking water, hydroelectric or water power, flood control, recreation and many other benefits to people or local economies. However, dams can pose significant risks to people living downstream should they fail.

There are dams in every U.S. state. It is important to know if you and your loved ones live, work or recreate in areas that may be affected by the presence of a dam and what to do if this is the case.

This booklet was created to help answer questions about dams: what purposes they serve, what risks are associated with dams and where you can get information about how to react if you are affected by a dam.

Email [email protected] to request hard copies.

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Living Near Dams: Extreme Rainfall Events
The risks associated with dam failure and flooding in the U.S. continue to increase dramatically as a direct result of the occurrence of extreme rainfall events, local land development, and a failure to adequately maintain or upgrade existing infrastructure.

Extreme rainfall events happen almost every day somewhere—maybe not in your backyard or above a dam in your community, but around the country and the world. Sometimes we see them in the news on TV, and sometimes these extreme rainfall events get names like Katrina, Irene, Helene, and Sandy or are referenced by location, like Boulder, Colorado (2013), or Pensacola, Florida (2014), or Central, Texas (2025).

Climate experts put all the historical extreme rainfall events into a database to determine how often they happen, how big they can get, and what the threat is for individual communities. Experts consider hundreds of years of data at thousands of locations and have a broad understanding of the climate and the potential for extreme rainfall events. They know that extreme rainfall happens, may exceed the years of available data, and may be happening more often.

Dam engineers use this climate database to predict the extreme rainfall events they use in dam design. Mother Nature very often surprises us with the unexpected ferocity of her storms. Climate data helps engineers anticipate these surprises by allowing them
to estimate the magnitude and frequency of extreme storm events. This publication will help explain and justify the engineering principles involved with predicting extreme rainfall events and how they are used to design safe, functional, and economical dams. It will connect the concepts of rain, dams, failure, and flooding impacts downstream.

Email [email protected] to request hard copies. 

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View or Download as a PDF
 

The Cost of Rehabilitating Dams in the U.S. (2025)
In 2022, the ASDSO Board of Directors established a task force to review and update the methodology and processes that were developed several years earlier by ASDSO to estimate the costs to rehabilitate non-federal dams in the United States (U.S.). This was a one-year project financed by ASDSO. The updated methodology and processes used readily available data to estimate the number of dams in need of rehabilitation based on dam height, age, and Condition Assessment rating. Data from more than 500 dam rehabilitation projects nationwide, ranging from $10,000 to more than $500 million, was used in determining the total amount of funding needed for dam rehabilitation at a national level.
The purpose of this report is to inform national and state policy decisions and provide the public and the media with a high-level understanding of the national dam rehabilitation need in terms of estimated costs. The findings and methodologies are not meant to be used to estimate a specific dam rehabilitation cost.

Dam Safety in the State Report (2024) - National Report

Read each State's Dam Safety Program Performance Report

Summary of State Laws and Regulations on Dam Safety (2020)
This publication is a summarization of the United States’ state laws and regulations pertaining to dam safety. Although laws and regulations vary from state to state, this document categorizes the main functions of each state’s policies and thus create a quick reference to specific issues.

Owner Education

Through the Dam Owner Academy, ASDSO offers two self-paced courses for operators, and others interested in the basics of dam ownership and operation a self-paced training program. These courses are designed for non-engineers and focus on a basic understanding of dams. These courses are free-of-charge. The basic materials used in course one are below for the general public to view individually. 

Dam Owner Fact Sheet Booklet
ASDSO has developed a booklet of fact sheets that provides guidance on specific issues many dam owners face. More information, as well as individual fact sheets, can be found under the Resources for Dam Owners and Operators section.

Dam Owner Academy: (Youtube Playlist)
The Dam Owner Academy is a series of videos to educate and inform owners on all aspects of operating and maintaining a dam safely. The videos concisely present the critical basics of owner responsibilities and are available as a free resource for owners and those conducting owner outreach programs.

• Dams 101
• Operation and Maintenance Plans
• Dam Inspections
• Spillways and Outlet Works
• Emergency Planning
• Extreme Rainfall Events
• Hiring an Experienced and Qualified Dam Engineer
• Rehabilitation Projects
• Plants & Animals on Dams
• Concrete Problems & Repairs
• Learning from Dam Failures
• Seepage, Slope Stability & Seismic Issues

Dam Failure and Incident Investigation Guide (2021)
This guide shares lessons from previous dam incident and failure experiences and is designed to assist state dam safety agencies and dam owners in making good decisions during the chaotic and high-stress period during and following a dam failure or major incident. As with any guide, it is expected that some refinements may be identified as more investigations are completed. As such, this guide is being issued as a “living document”, with the expectation that applicable revisions or updates will be made as necessary. The initial version was published in December 2011. This current version 2.0, dated March 2021, features revisions from lessons learned during the past ten years.

ASDSO Websites

Lessons Learned from Dam Failures and Incidents - DamFailures.org
Presented within this website are links to individual case studies as well as lessons learned pages that summarize historical dam incidents and failures and the valuable information gleaned from them.  Each page contains background and description, photographs, videos, best practices, and other resources related to the case study or lessons learned being addressed.  The contents of this webpage encompass a range of failure modes, dam types, and dam safety topics including best practices regarding engineering and design practices.
 

Dam Safety Toolbox - DamToolbox.org
Through this new website, any professional can quickly build their knowledge of dam safety basics through resources curated by leaders in the industry. Users can explore dozens of pages on dam safety fundamentals, management, and technical topics. ASDSO members can contribute to the site using the wiki-based editing system. Edits are reviewed and approved by the Dam Safety Toolbox Committee.

Videos

Members Only