The Pittsburgh District is one of seven districts that comprise the
Great Lakes and Ohio River Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. A
civil works district, we have an Army colonel assigned as District Commander, but our technical chiefs, functional chiefs and most of our more than 600 employees are civilians.
Like all Corps civil works districts, the Pittsburgh District’s boundaries are defined by the watershed basins for which we are responsible. Pittsburgh’s 26,000 square miles include portions of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Maryland and southwestern New York.
Our jurisdiction includes more than 328 miles of navigable waterways, 23 navigation locks and dams, 16 multi-purpose flood damage reduction reservoirs, 42 local flood damage reduction projects and other projects to protect and enhance water resources and wetlands.
With more than 140 years of experience, the Pittsburgh District has developed expertise to accomplish its varied civil works missions in the areas of navigation, flood damage reduction, recreation, environmental restoration, hydropower, storm damage reduction, regulatory, water supply and emergency response.
The Pittsburgh District is known as the Headwaters District because it includes the upper 127 miles of the Ohio River and the drainage basins of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers which join at the Point in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio Rivers. “Headwaters” also acknowledges Pittsburgh’s role as a district of engineering firsts within the Corps of Engineers.