33 U.S.C. § 467 — Definitions

This section defines seventeen terms used throughout this subchapter, the law governing dam safety. (1) Administrator means the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). (2) Board means the National Dam Safety Review Board, set up under section 467f(f) of this title. (3) Dam means an artificial barrier that can hold back water, wastewater, or other liquid material, and that either (A)(i) rises 25 feet or more — measured from the natural streambed, or from the barrier's lowest outer point if it's not across a stream — up to its maximum water-storage level, or (ii) can hold 50 acre-feet or more of water at maximum storage. It does not include (B)(i) a levee, or (ii) a barrier that is 6 feet or less tall regardless of its storage capacity, or that holds 15 acre-feet or less regardless of height — unless, because of where it is or some other physical feature, the Administrator decides it's likely to seriously threaten human life or property if it fails. (4) Eligible high hazard potential dam means a non-federal dam that (A)(i) sits in a state with a state dam safety program; (ii) the state dam safety agency has classified as "high hazard potential"; (iii) has an emergency action plan that's either approved by the state dam safety agency, or follows state law and is awaiting that approval; (iv) fails to meet the state's minimum dam safety standards, as the state determines; and (v) poses an unacceptable public risk, as the Administrator determines after consulting the Board. (B) This term excludes (i) a licensed hydroelectric dam with more than 1.5 megawatts of authorized capacity, and (ii) a dam built under the Secretary of Agriculture's authority. (5) Federal agency means any federal agency that designs, funds, builds, owns, runs, maintains, or regulates the construction, operation, or maintenance of a dam. (6) Federal Guidelines for Dam Safety means FEMA publication number 93, dated June 1979, which sets out dam-safety management practices for all federal agencies. (7) FEMA means the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (8) Hazard reduction means reducing the potential harm to life and property that a dam failure could cause. (9) ICODS means the Interagency Committee on Dam Safety, set up under section 467e of this title. (10) Eligible subrecipient, for a project getting help under section 467f–2 of this title, includes a governmental organization and a nonprofit organization. (11) Program means the national dam safety program set up under section 467f of this title. (12) Rehabilitation means repairing, replacing, rebuilding, or removing a dam to meet the applicable state dam safety and security standards. (13) State means each of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other U.S. territory or possession. (14) State dam safety agency means a state agency with regulatory authority over the safety of non-federal dams. (15) State dam safety program means a state dam safety program approved and funded under section 467f(e) of this title. (16) Underserved community means a community of fewer than 50,000 people whose median household income is less than 80 percent of the statewide median household income. (17) United States, when used to describe a place, means all of the states (as defined in item 13).