The organization that establishes safety standards for America’s dams is the Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO). It arose in the 1970s because of significant and tragic dam failures. These standards classify dams into (1) their potential for destruction in case of failure (fatalities and infrastructure effects) and (2) their condition and therefore likelihood of failure. America’s dams are owned and operated by either federal agencies, or state entities, or by private interests. Whatever the ownership, the Army Corps of Engineers maintains a “National Inventory of Dams” (NID) that classifies according to seventy characteristics, and that also maintains “inundation maps” that indicate the flood consequences in case of failure. America’s requirements for dam restoration and maintenance have responded to these new institutions.