Who Can Apply for the High Hazard Potential Dam Grant Program?

Guidance & Resources

Subrecipients

Mitigation Plan Requirements

Contact

A state with a state dam safety program authorized by state legislation is the only entity eligible to submit a High Hazard Potential Dam (HHPD) Grant Program applications to DHS/FEMA.

Each eligible state must designate one State Administrative Agency (SAA) to serve as the applicant for funding. Each SAA may submit only one grant application to FEMA and be able to comply with regulations associated with receipt of federal financial contributions from FEMA.

Subrecipient Eligibility Requirements

Please refer to the NOFO for subrecipient eligibility criteria.  

NOTE: The dam project must be located in a jurisdiction with a FEMA-approved hazard mitigation plan that includes dam risk.

Subrecipient Group	Is It Eligible?
Lake associations or homeowner associations	The association must be classified as an eligible nonprofit organization (501c3). Please review the information from IRS.gov and in the Grants.gov NOFO for requirements.
Private dam owners (not owned by a nonprofit organization)	A private dam owner cannot be a subrecipient of the grant. Eligible applicants of the grant must be a state or territory with an enacted dam safety program, the SAA, or an equivalent state agency. The SAA is responsible for submitting an application and administering the grant as a passthrough. They will receive the grant based on the statutory formula and be responsible for making subawards to subrecipients. The subrecipient must be a non-federal governmental organization. This could be a state office or a local governmental entity that is applying as a subrecipient.
A city's municipal dam	If a city has a municipal dam that needs to be rehabilitated, they can apply to the state to receive the grant as a sub-recipient. There could also be a city that has a private dam that poses unacceptable risk, and the city may want to be the subrecipient that would work directly with the state to execute a subaward the rehabilitation of that dam. The jurisdiction must have a FEMA-approved mitigation plan that includes all dam risks.

The local community for which the dam is located should be consulted to confirm compliance with the local floodplain management regulations and NFIP regulations.

The HHPD Grant Program is allocated to states/territories with an existing state/territory dam safety program.

If the state owns the dam, only the state mitigation plan will need to include all dam risks.

For non-state dams, the approved local or tribal mitigation plan where the dam is located will need to include all dam risks. The local or tribal government where the dam is located is responsible for updating the mitigation plan to include all dam risks. The HHPD subrecipient, if different than the jurisdiction where the dam is located, will need to coordinate with the local or tribal government regarding the update to include all dam risks.

The proposed HHPD project is not eligible for HHPD funding if the local or tribal government where the dam is located does not have an approved mitigation plan.

If the nonprofit organization that owns the dam was not a participant in the local mitigation plan in which the dam is located, they still be a subrecipient if the local or tribal jurisdiction where the dam is located has a FEMA-approved mitigation plan that includes all dam risks.

Nonprofit organizations are not required to participate in mitigation planning.

FEMA is responsible for validating that a mitigation plan includes all dam risks.

More information for state and local governments is provided in Section 5.8 of the Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dams Grant Program Guidance. Tribal mitigation plans will be assessed according to the criteria for local mitigation plans.

Once FEMA validates that the mitigation planning requirements for addressing all dam risks have been met, an approval letter will be issued to the jurisdiction.

If your approved state, local, or tribal mitigation plan does not include all dam risks, then the applicant and subrecipient can apply for a 12-month extension to the mitigation plan requirement using the Extraordinary Circumstances provision found in:

• The Notice of Funding Opportunity of that grant cycle.
• The Rehabilitation of High Hazard Potential Dams Grant Program Guidance.
  • Criteria can be found in Section 5.9, Mitigation Plan Extraordinary Circumstances. 
  • See also Appendix C Mitigation Planning Templates and Tools.