Eight years after Congress created the program, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is taking a first step toward offering more than $7 billion of federally backed loans to repair aging dams owned by states, local governments and private entities across the U.S.
The Corps published a proposed rule for the low-interest loan program on Friday, starting a process that is expected to open applications for the aid in 2023, said Aaron Snyder, interim director of the Corps’ Water Infrastructure Financing Program.
The Corps’ National Inventory of Dams lists more than 92,000 structures across the U.S., most of which are privately owned. The safety of the nation’s dams has garnered increased public scrutiny in recent years, in part because of high-profile failures that forced the evacuation of thousands of residents in Michigan and California.
“There is a need to rehabilitate quite a number of our dams in the U.S.,” said Chuck Thompson, chief of the New Mexico Dam Safety Bureau and president of the Association of State Dam Safety Officials.
But he added: “The rehabilitation of a large facility like a dam requires quite a bit of funding, and it’s the sort of thing that even the larger owners often struggle with.”