The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District currently has 150 miles of federally-constructed levees in the USACE Levee Safety Program throughout Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.

The USACE Levee Safety Program works to better understand, prioritize, and manage the flood risks associated with levees. The program's mission is to ensure levee systems provide benefit to the Nation by working with sponsors and stakeholders to assess, communicate, and manage the flood risks to people, property, and the environment.

Although some may believe that USACE manages all levees in the nation, the levees included in the USACE Levee Safety Program represent only about 10 percent of the nation’s levees. Managing risk is a shared responsibility, therefore, USACE works closely with federal, state, local, and international partners to share information and develop flood risk management solutions.

In 2006, USACE revamped its Levee Safety Program - inspecting and assessing the 2,500 levee systems in its portfolio, refining its levee inspection program, and revising its levee safety policies and procedures. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA) provided funds to jumpstart levee periodic inspections - a more detailed inspection conducted once every five years.

The results of USACE levee inspections determine continued eligibility for the Levee Safety Program’s Rehabilitation and Inspection Program (RIP), which is USACE's authority to provide federal aid in repairing levees damaged by floods or storms. They also provide a better picture of levee conditions - an important step in our shared efforts with state and local authorities to communicate flood risk and make informed decisions on how best to manage it.

USACE also maintains the National Levee Database (NLD).  The NLD provides information about the location and condition of levees and floodwalls near you, displayed in an easy-to-use map interface, as well as reports, risk summaries, and other records. You can enter a zip code within certain in the "Find Levees Near Me" module and receive a listing of levees nearby, or see a map showing the levee and the leveed area. You may also search by selecting "Baltimore" as the organization when clicking on the "Basic System Reporting" module and selecting other key identifiers, as applicable. You can view the levee data in combination with other Geographic Information Systems data, including real-time data from sources such as stream gauges and weather radar. If you are having issues using the NLD, the NLD Help tab offers tutorials to guide you to the information you are seeking. To view Baltimore District's levee inventory, you may also click the link at the right module.

The Baltimore District regularly inspects levees within the USACE Levee Safety Program inventory to monitor their overall condition, identify potential deficiencies, verify that needed maintenance is taking place, determine eligibility for the federal rehabilitation assistance (in accordance with P.L. 84-99), and provide the public with information about their levees.

Each levee segment receives an overall segment inspection rating of Acceptable, Minimally Acceptable, or Unacceptable. What these ratings mean and how they are determined can be viewed in the levee inspection checklist. Deficiencies in a system may be caused by excessive vegetation on the levees, animal burrows, erosion, sediment in the outflows, etc. Though the ratings do not fully define the risk, they are important because they provide consistency in risk characterization, communication and risk reduction measures and help prioritize federal and local investments.

If a levee system comprises one or more levee segments (if there are different levee sponsors for different parts of the levee) then the overall levee system rating is the lowest of the segment ratings.  This rating for operations and maintenance is based on the levee inspection checklist, which includes 125 specific items dealing with operation and maintenance of levee embankments, floodwalls, interior drainage, pump stations, and channels. The overall segment and system ratings are used to determine if the levee is eligible for federal rehabilitation assistance through the Rehabilitation and Inspection Program (P.L. 84-99).

Levees remain eligible if they are operated and maintained to certain standards by their non-federal sponsors. USACE now offers sponsors a process through the system-wide improvement  framework (SWIF) to remain temporarily eligible for assistance, while they correct unacceptable deficiencies in their projects over time to transition them to meet USACE standards.

There are two main types of inspections:

·         Routine Inspection is a visual inspection to verify and rate levee system operations and maintenance.  It is typically conducted each year for all levees in the USACE Levee Safety Program. 

·         Periodic Inspection is a comprehensive inspection conducted by a multidisciplinary team led by a professional engineer.  USACE typically conducts this inspection every five years on the federally-authorized levees in the Levee Safety Program.  Baltimore District conducted periodic inspections from 2009 to 2013 using district and contractor teams. 

There are also inspections that are conducted after special circumstances like major flooding or an earthquake.

USACE shares inspection results with the authority responsible for levee operations and maintenance, also known as the levee sponsor.  USACE also shares the results with FEMA, to help inform decisions about levee accreditation for flood insurance purposes.

More than 10 million people live or work behind USACE Levee Safety Program levees, and, in 2011, levee systems contributed to more than $120 billion in damages prevented.  However, with these benefits, comes risks.

It is a priority for USACE to assess how levees are expected to perform and what the potential consequences of non-performance would be. This places levee systems into a risk-informed context that provides a consistent and credible way to prioritize actions that will help manage the risks associated with owning or operating levees. USACE uses risk assessments to prioritize life safety risks for its own levee safety activities, and also to provide a basis for communicating risk, so levee sponsors and other stakeholders can make more informed decisions.

Levees do not eliminate risk. Risk factors are always changing, and there are always risk factors we cannot know or control. Risk is managed by routine Levee Safety Program activities, including operations and maintenance, inspections and risk assessments.

The levee sponsor is responsible for operations, maintenance, repair, replacement, and rehabilitation of the levee system, and has the lead role in planning the path forward. USACE can provide advisory help, technical assistance, or cost-shared construction. Government agencies at every level, as well as the private sector and the public, also have roles to play to ensure levees will perform as designed in the event of high water.

USACE can support risk reduction activities not only through the Levee Safety Program, but also through the Flood Risk Management Program, Silver Jackets Program, and authorities such as Floodplain Management Services, Planning Assistance to States, Advance Measures, and others.