Location
Rock Island District, Nationwide
Description
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and non-federal levee sponsors work together to understand the risks associated with levees, build awareness among the public, fulfill daily responsibilities on the levee structure, and take actions to manage the future performance of the levee.
The USACE Levee Safety Program (LSP) was designed to fulfill the following purposes:
- To ensure that new and existing levees are managed to continue providing the intended benefits to human lives and property.
- To encourage the use of appropriate engineering policies, procedures, and technical practices for levee site investigation, design, construction, operation and maintenance, inspection, assessment, and emergency preparedness.
- To build public awareness of the benefits and risks associated with living behind a levee.
- To develop technical assistance materials, seminars, and guidelines to improve the reliability of levees of the United States.
The USACE Levee Safety Program includes activities that are intended to help USACE and the levee sponsor work together to fulfill the purposes of the program, organized within the following categories:
- Inspections.
- Risk assessments.
- Levee operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, and rehabilitation (OMRR&R).
- Sharing levee information.
- Inventory of levees (National Levee Database).
USACE districts utilize formal levee inspections at a 5-year interval to gather detailed information on the current condition of levee systems. The detailed inspection data, along with other data, is used to conduct levee risk assessments. These risk assessments may include qualitative and quantitative risk assessments, which are used to identify consequences and key risk drivers associated with a levee system. Levee site visits, when funded, occur in the interval between formal levee inspections. The LSP has transitioned to the new program guidance in Engineering Circular (EC) 1165-2-218 which includes changes to the inspection program
In FY24 USACE Rock Island District is completing 20 detailed “formal” levee inspections, 6 less-detailed “routine” levee inspections, 37 levee site visits, 8 screening-level risk assessments, and 1 more-detailed semi-quantitative risk assessment.
Background
In the Rock Island District, more than $6 billion dollars of real property and more than 40,000 people live or work behind levees in the USACE program. Congress appropriated funds to build levees with the assurance that the local sponsors would properly maintain this public investment. Congress mandated USACE to make sure that the levees are properly operated and maintained (O&M) and that risks are properly managed.
Status
Our nation’s levee infrastructure continues to age as floods that test these levee systems seem to be occurring more frequently. Rock Island District struggles with fully implementing the Levee Safety Act of 2007 as the district is behind in its required allocation of $18 million/decade to fully fund the LSP. Therefore, full implementation of the USACE obligations has not been realized. Funding for Levee Safety and the safety of our citizens directly competes with other O&M tasks for locks, dams, and recreation facilities.
Additional Information
Authority
SI - Special Interest
National Levee Safety Act of 2007 contained in 2007 WRDA Title IX, WRRDA 2014
Summarized MVR Project Costs
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Estimated Federal Cost/10yr period
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$18,000,000
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Estimated Non-Federal Cost
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$0
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Estimated Total Project Cost
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N/A
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Allocations Prior to FY 2024
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N/A
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FY 2024 Allocation
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$1,646,000
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FY 2025 President’s Budget
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$1,277,000
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FY 2025 Total Capability
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$1,572,000
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Major Work Item Current Fiscal Year
FY 2024: The program moved forward with execution of levee safety program guidance requirements in Engineering Circular 1165-2-218, including levee inspections, site visits, risk assessments, and maintaining and improving data in the National Levee Database.
Major Work Item Next Fiscal Year
FY 2025: If funded, the program will move forward with flood risk communication with local levee owners (sponsors) and communities. The program will continue to execute levee safety program guidance requirements in Engineering Circular 1165-2-218, including levee inspections, site visits, risk assessments, and maintaining and improving data in the National Levee Database.