Public safety is the Corps’ number one priority. To reduce flood risks, improve public safety, and communicate to local levee sponsors and the public the overall condition of levee systems and recommended actions, the Corps has created a more comprehensive and rigorous levee inspection process under its Levee Safety Program.
Projects in the Corps’ program include: levees owned, operated, and maintained by the Corps; levees designed and built by the Corps and then turned over to a local sponsor to operate and maintain; and levees designed and built by a non-federal entity that have been accepted into the Corps’ Rehabilitation and Inspection Program. There are many miles of private-party, federal, state and local levees outside the Corps’ inspection program. Presently, there is no universal oversight of levees in the nation.