How should an HOA board handle a state dam safety inspection of its pond embankment?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised September 28, 2026

How an HOA board handles a state dam safety inspection of its pond: whether TX, CO or FL regulates the dam, hazard class, owner duties and answering the report.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

If your pond sits behind an earthen embankment that holds water above the ground downstream, the state may treat that embankment as a dam and the association as its owner. When the dam safety program inspects it, the board has four jobs. Know whether the dam is regulated and what hazard class it carries. Have your own records ready. Walk the dam with the inspector. Then answer the report in writing, with a plan and dates, after your engineer has read it. The routine mowing, trash and outlet work is in our guide on setting up a retention pond maintenance schedule, and bank repairs are in our guide on repairing an eroding HOA pond bank. Dam rules vary by state, and your declaration, plat and permits decide who owns and maintains the pond. This is general education, not legal or engineering advice.

Find out whether the state regulates your dam

Texas. Under 30 TAC 299.1(a), TCEQ's dam safety rules cover a dam 25 feet or taller that stores 15 acre-feet or more, a dam over 6 feet that stores 50 acre-feet or more, and any high- or significant-hazard dam over 6 feet regardless of storage. Water Code 12.052(e-1) then exempts a dam on private property from the dam safety requirements if it meets all four tests: it holds less than 500 acre-feet at maximum capacity, its hazard class is low or significant, it sits in a county under 350,000 people, and it is outside city limits. The county count uses the 2020 census. Two catches. Subsection (e-2) still makes an exempt owner follow TCEQ's operation and maintenance rules. And neither the statute nor TCEQ's guidance says whether a dam owned by an HOA counts as private, so ask TCEQ in writing and keep the answer. Colorado. C.R.S. 37-87-105(1) requires State Engineer approval of plans for a dam that impounds more than 100 acre-feet, covers more than 20 acres at the high water line, or is taller than 10 feet. Rule 4.6.2 of the dam safety rules (2 CCR 402-1) adds that smaller dams are still subject to the State Engineer's authority. Florida. The Florida Dam Safety Program is DEP and the five water management districts working through environmental resource permits. Rule 62-330.020(2) requires a permit to build or alter a dam taller than 10 feet or a system that can impound more than 40 acre-feet. We found no separate state schedule of periodic dam inspections for small existing private dams. Your permit's own inspection duties apply instead. If you are unsure, search the National Inventory of Dams at nid.sec.usace.army.mil by county, then call the state program. A listing there adds no duties by itself.

Learn your hazard class, because it drives almost everything

Hazard class describes what a failure would do downstream. As Texas rule 299.2(29) puts it, the class does not describe the dam's condition. Under 30 TAC 299.14, a low-hazard dam has no permanent habitable structures in the area a breach would flood. A significant-hazard dam could cost one to six lives or affect one or two habitable structures. A high-hazard dam puts seven or more lives or three or more habitable structures at risk. Colorado's Rule 4.13 uses four classes. High means life loss is expected. Significant means significant damage, such as homes made uninhabitable, but no expected life loss. Then come low and no public hazard. For an HOA, this matters because the homes below the dam are often the association's own. A pond built when the land downstream was pasture can move up a class after houses go in. Ask the state what class it has on file. If it is significant or high, most of the duties below apply.

What the state inspection involves and how often it comes

In Texas, rule 299.42(a)(2) puts high-hazard, significant-hazard and large low-hazard dams on a five-year inspection cycle. Small and intermediate low-hazard dams stay out of the periodic program, and TCEQ inspects them only after a complaint, an emergency or a request. Rule 299.4(a)(4) requires a Texas professional engineer with dam experience to perform or supervise the owner's engineering inspections of high- and significant-hazard dams and large low-hazard dams. In Colorado, C.R.S. 37-87-107 lets the State Engineer inspect as often as needed. A 2014 State Auditor report described the branch's policy at the time: high-hazard dams every year, significant every two years, low every six. That is an internal policy and may have changed, so ask. Before the visit, pull the plat, as-built plans, permit, past state reports and your own inspection log. Clear brush out of the spillway so the inspector can see it. Colorado's Rule 11.1 lets an owner remove brush and tall weeds, cut trees under 6 inches in diameter and control rodents without state approval, but any new landscaping needs approval, and no trees may be planted within 25 feet of the dam's footprint. Send the operations director and your engineer to the walk. Photograph everything the inspector points at.

Answer the inspection report

Take the report to the next board meeting with the engineer's comments. Sort each finding: fix now (active seepage, a sinkhole, a blocked spillway), fix next budget year, or monitor. Texas rule 299.42(a)(5) says that if TCEQ asks, the owner gives a written response with a plan of action and time frames for every recommendation. The rule sets no fixed deadline, so the deadline is whatever TCEQ's letter says. Rule 299.41(c) requires repairs to start and finish in a timely manner after an inspection. If the report says the spillway is too small, Water Code 12.052(b-1) lets TCEQ agree to a compliance timeline. Ask before the deadline passes. Willfully ignoring a final order for more than 30 days can bring a penalty of up to $5,000 a day under 12.052(c). Colorado can limit how much water you store. Under Rule 5.3 the State Engineer issues a restriction order when a problem affects safe storage, and C.R.S. 37-87-107 makes storing above that level unlawful. C.R.S. 37-87-114(1) sets a fine of at least $500 per offense, with each day a separate offense. A response paragraph the board can adapt: "The Association received the inspection report dated [date] for [dam name]. Our engineer, [name, license number], has reviewed it. We will complete items 1 and 2 by [date], budget items 3 through 5 for the [year] fiscal year with completion by [date], and add item 6 to our annual inspection." A motion: "Move to authorize the operations director to engage [engineer] for up to $[amount] to respond to the state dam safety report dated [date], and to submit the association's written plan of action by [deadline]."

Keep an emergency action plan if your class requires one

An emergency action plan says who spots trouble, who calls whom, and which homes to warn if the embankment starts to fail. Texas rule 299.61 requires one for every high- and significant-hazard dam that is not exempt. The owner reviews it every year and sends TCEQ the updated pages, or written notice that nothing changed, and holds a tabletop exercise with local emergency managers at least every five years. Colorado's Rule 13.7 requires a plan for high- and significant-hazard dams and an annual review. TCEQ's guidance strongly encourages exempt significant-hazard dams to keep one anyway, and FDEP publishes a free template for Florida dams. Directors change every year, so the contact list goes stale fast. Put the plan review on the board calendar for the month after the annual meeting, so new names go in right away. List the downstream homes by address so a director can knock on doors if the phones are down.

Do the owner's work between inspections

Texas rule 299.42(b) calls for owner maintenance inspections at least once a year and after significant rainfall. The owner reports a serious problem to TCEQ by phone or email within 72 hours and in writing within five working days, and sends in any engineer's inspection report within 45 calendar days of receiving it. Rule 299.43 lists the maintenance: remove animal burrows, clear the principal and emergency spillways (fences included), remove brush and trees up to 4 inches in diameter from the dam and all trees and brush from the spillways, keep good grass cover and fix erosion. Colorado's Rule 13.4 has owners observe high- and significant-hazard dams at least twice a month whenever the reservoir is more than half full, and low-hazard dams at least every three months. Rule 13.5 requires an internal inspection of the outlet pipe of a high- or significant-hazard dam at least once every ten years. Texas rule 299.46 requires owners to keep inspection, maintenance, repair and flood records for the life of the dam and pass them to any new owner. For an HOA, that means every future board, so keep the file in the association's records, not a manager's system.

Budget for it and avoid the usual mistakes

Add three lines to the reserve study or operating budget: the engineer's periodic inspection, an allowance for outlet and spillway repairs, and the ten-year internal outlet inspection if Colorado requires one for your class. Get the engineer's estimates in writing. Most trouble starts with a board that assumed the pond was too small to count. Next come the report left in a director's inbox until the state writes again, the owner who fences across the emergency spillway, and the emergency plan that still lists directors who moved away. Assign one director to own the dam file and the state contact. Put the review dates on the board calendar and every letter to or from the state in the minutes.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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