VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

JULY 2018

LEVEE SAFETY UPDATE

National Levee Inventory & Review Effort
By Ms. Jamie McVicker, P.E., Levee Safety Production Center

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers ers/operators. Additionally, 122 levees have Inside this issue:
(USACE) is leading an effort to conduct an been assigned to USACE technical teams,
inventory and one-time inspection and risk each of which is in a different stage of re- National Levee 2
assessment of levees beyond the USACE portfolio view completion. More than 600 levees Inventory &
to learn more about the benefits and risks of the have been added to the National Levee Da- Review Outreach
nation’s levees. This activity was authorized by tabase.
the Water Resources Reform and Development Federal Levee 3
Act of 2014. USACE is partnering with state agen- A better understanding of these Safety Guidelines
cies, tribal nations and their levee operators/ non-USACE levees is helping identify: previ-
owners on a volunteer basis to enhance the inven- ously unknown issues, repair and rehabilita- National Levee 4
tory reflected in the National Levee Database and tion needs, partners for flood risk manage-
Database
accomplish one-time inspections and risk assess- ment, flood fighting and emergency man-
ments on levees. agement activities, and benefits and risks to
Levee Safety EC, 5
residents and businesses. Gathering base-
Outreach to prospective state partners line information will allow USACE to more
Inspection ECB
has been accomplished for 46 states and three efficiently and cost-effectively identify the
territories, and efforts are currently underway to most critical levee safety issues, quantify the USACE Levee 5
contact federally-recognized tribes throughout nation's risk exposure and true cost of main- Safety Program
the nation. To date, 153 levees have been identi- taining levees, focus priorities for future
fied for levee review (inspection and risk assess- funding, and have fully informed communi- Guidance
ment) through coordination with local levee own- ties.
Three Methods, 6
One Levee Risk
Assessment
Exercise

Levee Risk 7
Communication

Levee Safety 8
Endowed Chair

Fiscal 2018/2019 8
Training Update
Opportunities
 Page 2

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

National Levee Inventory & Review Outreach

(Left—right) Clint Shealy, Assistant City Manager, Columbia (Clockwise, left front) Mitch Hall, Dan Brubaker, and Randy
Water; Gregory Tucker, Special Projects Administrator, City of Mundt. (right rear): Jason Glazener, Saul Carlson (partially hid-
Columbia; and Joseph Jaco, Director of Utilities, at the South den) and Tom Child attend the initial meeting with State repre-
Carolina State Liaison Face-to-Face Meeting for I&R participa- sentatives from North Carolina to review levee inventory data
tion. Photo by Nathan H. Bryan and prioritize levees for review. Photo by Almur S. Whiting IV

(Left to right) USACE Staff Tara Linville, Brian Lowe,

Charley Barry, Stephen Wallington, with Brian Ball,
City of Mount Vernon Engineer, and Ashley Ste-
phens, USACE, preparing to walk the levee during
the reconnaissance site visit at Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Photo by Ashley Stephens
Brian Ball, City of Mount Vernon Engineer (right) discuss-
ing the levee features with USACE representatives
Charles Barry and Stephen Wallington (left) on a recon-
naissance site visit at Mount Vernon, Ohio.
Photo by Ashley Stephens
 Page 3
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

Federal Levee Safety Guidelines

By Dr. Michael Sharp, P.E., Levee Safety Production Center

Federal partners with an interest in levee safety attend the March workshop in Washington D.C., to develop an outline for federal
levee safety guidelines. Photo by Dr. Michael Sharp

Efforts are currently underway to develop voluntary partners with an interest in levee safety to attend a series of
federal levee safety guidelines as described in the Water Re- workshops to develop an outline for the guidelines, which
sources and Reform Development Act of (WRRDA) 2014. will be used to develop a final document. The first workshop
These guidelines apply to management practices for levee was held in March 2018 with the second scheduled for July
safety of all federal entities responsible for the planning, de- 2018. Workshops with the federal partners will occur ap-
sign, construction, operation, or regulation of levees. They proximately every four months. A final draft outline is ex-
are intended to be a set of voluntary, comprehensive, levee pected to be completed by the end of the calendar year with
safety guidelines that engender the vision that an involved a first draft of the guidelines completed by the end of fiscal
public and reliable levee systems work as part of an integrat- 2019. The guidelines will be written around the risk frame-
ed approach to protect people and property from floods. To work, consistent with USACE Levee Safety Program draft
accomplish this objective, USACE has engaged all federal engineering circular on policies and procedures.
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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

Updated National Levee Database

By Ms. Cathi Sanders, J.D., Levee Safety Production Center

The updated National Levee Database (NLD) was offi- also the new NLD features. Internal webinars for USACE and
cially released to the public on June 5, 2018. The new site can FEMA along with specific webinars for the USACE sponsor com-
be found at https://levees.sec.usace.army.mil/ munity and finally a general public view webinar were held in
May. Led by the NLD team, these webinars were helpful in ad-
The NLD updates are centered on providing essential dressing internal concerns, communicating with the sponsors,
information about levee systems to the public and various and allowing the public to learn more about the value of the
stakeholders in the Levee Safety community. An interactive NLD.
map view along with an updated ability to search and find in-
formation are all new to the NLD website. The new website The response to the new NLD has been extremely posi-
design also provides users with ready access to levee risk in- tive. The first month statistics show that 2,461 unique visitors
formation and visual map displays. accessed the site with a total of 4,367 visits. Over 488,510 pages
of the new website were viewed by visitors to the site. Re-
Several key webinars were presented prior to the NLD sponses from the levee safety community reflect a common
release to help inform stakeholders about the new infor- view that the new NLD site provides valuable information in an
mation in the NLD, specifically the risk-based information, and easy to locate and user friendly manner.

Updates will continue with the new website as links to

the Levee Inspection Tool and Levee Screening Tool are com-
plete along with addition of Performance Information. Online
report building assistance is also set for completion by next fis-
cal year. In addition, Districts adding/updating information via
the new online data editing will ensure the information is cur-
rent and accurate as that remains critical to the continued suc-
cess of the NLD website.

If you have any comments or suggestions for the NLD

or need any assistance, please contact Cathi Sanders, NLD Pro-
gram Manager at [email protected] or the
HELP Desk at DLL-CEERD-NLD-General-
The National Levee Database website has an interactive map [email protected].
that allows you to browse levees through a variety of filters.
 Page 5

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

Levee Safety EC, Inspection ECB and ER 500-1-1

Mr. Steve Fink, P.E., HQUSACE Dam and Levee Engineering Branch

Final draft development for EC 1165-2-218 Levee Safe- was on hold because of delayed approval of 33 Code of
ty Policy and Procedures (LS EC) and the Engineering Construc- Federal Regulation Section 203 (33 CFR 203) that sets the
tion Bulletin Levee Safety Inspection Procedures (Inspection sideboards for the PL84-99 Rehabilitation Program. Approv-
ECB) are in full swing. al of 33 CFR 203 is expected to occur very soon.

Tammy Conforti, Special Assistant for Levee Safety is Willem Helms, HQ PL 84-99 program manager is
leading the LS EC and Inspection ECB development. In re- leading the ER 500-1-1 revision. A key change to the ER
sponse to the USACE internal review, Tammy and her teams 500-1-1 related to levee safety is how PL 84-99 eligibility
are working together to make sure the activities proposed col- determinations will be made in the future. The draft ER
lect the right information, at the right time, for the right pur- 500-1-1 is not expected to change significantly from the
pose, without overburdening the non-federal sponsors and version offered for review in 2016.
District levee teams.
Efforts are currently underway to make sure the
Both of these important Levee Safety governance doc- activities among LS EC, Inspection ECB and ER 500-1-1 are
uments are headed toward public review later this fiscal year aligned, supportive and employ common language. Dr.
or early fiscal 2019. Rich Varuso, Risk Management Center is representing Lev-
ee Safety assisting Mr. Helms with the ER 500-1-1 effort to
Another parallel but related and equally important help align the policies where they overlap. Dr. Varuso is
activity that has just resumed is revision of Engineering Regula- also the team lead for the Inspection ECB, and is a key
tion 500-1-1 Rehabilitation Program (ER 500-1-1). That action member of the LS EC development team.

USACE Levee Safety Program Guidance Update

 Page 6

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

Three Methods, One Levee Risk Assessment Exercise

By Mr. Troy T. Cosgrove, P.E., Levee Safety Production Center

The Levee Safety Partnership met in St Louis to focus on sharing risk assessment methodologies. Here, the group walks through
a potential failure modes analysis (PFMA). Photo by Joseph Goldstein

In October of 2017, the Levee Safety Partnership met reach information is assessed using a spreadsheet based tool.
in St Louis to focus on sharing risk assessment methodologies. The EA method uses economics as the primary means to quan-
The Levee Safety Partnership consists of Environment Agency tify risk and currently does not consider life safety in the risk
(EA) from the United Kingdom, Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) from the equation. The methodology does consider uncertainty in the
Netherlands, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). assessment in the level of data input. The basic assessment
The agencies converged on St. Louis to focus their risk assess- starts with minimal data input and sensitivity analysis can be
ment methodologies on the Upper Wood River Levee located performed to determine where additional data makes signifi-
in Alton, Illinois, which is within the St. Louis District bounda- cant difference to the result of the assessment.
ries. The objective of the meeting was to see what lessons
could be learned from observing each agency’s risk assessment The RWS methodology uses a three-step approach
processes. At the end of the week, the differences among each including a simple assessment using decision rules, a semi and
agency’s methodology was compared and contrasted and feed- fully probabilistic analysis, and an advanced assessment to
back was provided to each agency on strengths and areas of compare the resilience of the levee to hydraulic loadings. The
improvement. RWS method is data driven and information on hydraulic load-
ing, geometry, elevation, grass cover, and soil profile of the
The EA’s methodology uses a tiered approach and levee and foundation are needed for their assessment. Com-
starts with a basic level assessment similar to the USACE puter modeling is used to evaluate the data and to estimate
screenings. It involves a visual assessment and if items of con- probabilities of failure. RWS does use a life safety standard
cern are noted, more detailed investigations occur. As part of (both societal and individual risk) as well as economic
the process, the levee is subdivided into reaches based on simi- considerations within the assessment of the risk of their levee
lar loading, geometry, stratigraphy, and construction methods. defenses.
The information gained from the inspection along with the (Continued next page)
 Page 7

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

(Continued)

data prior to this session. USACE then evaluated risk driving

failure modes of backward erosion and piping in the founda-
tion, overtopping with breach, and slope stability. USACE de-
veloped event trees, which map failure from initiation to
breach, and identified more likely and less likely factors for
each of the failure modes. The USACE method then used ex-
pert opinion elicitation to determine probabilities of failure for
the risk driving failure modes. On the consequence side of the
risk equation, the LifeSim model was used to evaluate the life
loss and economic consequences. The annualized probability
of failure and average life loss was then plotted on an f-N
The Levee Safety Partnership completed a site visit to a levee chart and evaluated based on the social life risk line. The
to evaluate current conditions during a Levee Risk Assessment USACE methodology also acknowledges the uncertainty in
Exercise held in St. Louis, October, 2017. Photo by Joseph these assessments and attempts to quantify them in their as-
Goldstein sessment.
There are similarities and differences with each agen-
The acceptable individual risk is set by the Dutch gov- cy’s methodologies. The technical exchange that occurred at
ernment. The methodology does take into account uncertain- the meeting allowed each agency to see how using risk assess-
ties and the assessment is refined and investigated further if ments to evaluate their levees has progressed and where they
there are high uncertainties. can improve. Based on the evaluation and feedback received,
each agency implemented changes to their programs. This
The USACE methodology is also scalable with screen- workshop is just one example of how the USACE is striving to
ings, semi-quantitative risk assessments, and fully-quantitative improve our levee safety program. The agencies did receive a
risk assessments. USACE used a quantitative risk assessment Flood & Coast 2018 project excellence award in the interna-
methodology at the exercise to evaluate the levee. The first tional excellence category for their efforts on the risk assess-
step was to walk the group through a potential failure modes ment exercise. The agencies are also working together to pub-
analysis (PFMA). The group was asked to review all pertinent lish a professional paper, which will document the exercise
and feedback provided.

Levee Risk Communication Update

By Ms. Sara Hilbrich, The Council Oak

Districts continue to actively engage and communicate promise to be highly engaging. Also, the PACT is in the process
with levee sponsors about levee risk assessment results. They of releasing several tools, including: a sample slide deck and
also continue to develop levee system summaries (LSS) for agenda tip sheet, a comprehensive updated LSS tip sheet, a
posting in the National Levee Database. To support Districts as selection of Risk Management Menus and a Sponsor Guide.
they move forward on these efforts, the Levee Safety Public These products can be found as they are released in the Levee
Awareness and Communication Team (PACT) offers a variety of Safety folder of the PAO SharePoint site (internal to USACE).
resources.
As always, real time document writing and editing as-
Upon District request, the PACT will deliver a tailored sistance remain available by emailing:
Risk Communication Workshop that is based on District needs. [email protected] or
From modules that introduce the LS Program for new staff, to [email protected]
intensive product development sessions, these workshops
 Page 8

VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2

Levee Safety Endowed Chair Detail a Rewarding Experience

By Mr. Will McRae, P.E., Vicksburg District Analytical and Levee Safety Section

I first heard about the Levee Safety Endowed Chair ion on important levee safety policy decisions, when before the
detail at a Risk Communication Workshop at the New Orleans detail started I was worried I might be coming to D.C. to be
District in 2016. I was told how great of an experience it was seen, not heard. I was routinely challenged to manage priori-
and was encouraged to apply by one of the previous Endowed ties, think outside the box, and look beyond the district bound-
Chairs, who had just finished his time at Headquarters. Ad- aries that I was used to. These are common phrases we all hear
mittedly, I was a little apprehensive to move from Mississippi from leadership, but the team I worked with for six months
all the way to Washington, D.C. for a six-month detail, but I practiced what they preached.
could not have been more wrong. The Levee Safety Endowed
Chair detail was one of the most rewarding experiences of my My time as the Levee Safety Endowed Chair expanded
career. my understanding of our organization and allowed me to focus
on future goals, while also helping me become a better team
When I arrived at Headquarters, I was prepared to member within the Levee Safety program. The amazing people
“see how the sausage is made”, but I didn’t really know what I met from numerous districts and divisions inspired me to con-
to expect from a personnel perspective. What I found were a tinue striving to make a positive impact on the Levee Safety
lot of very dedicated people working toward common goals to program. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I was
make the USACE Levee Safety Program great. Eric Halpin, Tam- given and I would highly encourage others to apply for the de-
my Conforti, and Steve Fink all worked to make my experience tail the next time you get the chance.
at HQ the best it could possibly be (and no they didn’t pay me
to say that). They brought me along to meetings and briefings I would like to welcome the next Levee Safety En-
with the most senior leaders in all of USACE and allowed me to dowed Chair, Mr. Jesse Morrill-Winter. The baton was passed
observe and learn how some of the top decision makers in our to him July 9, 2018. I’m sure he is in for a great experience
organization think and act. I was regularly asked for my opin- over the next six months!

Fiscal 2018-2019 Training Opportunities

Levee Safety Fundamentals PROSPECT Courses

 Levee Safety Fundamentals 2 Davis, California September 18-20, 2018
 Levee Safety Fundamentals 1 Kansas City, Missouri May 7-9, 2019
 Levee Safety Fundamentals 2 Davis, California September 17-19, 2019

Levee Inspection PROSPECT Courses

 Levee Inspection 1 New Orleans, Louisiana TBD*
 Levee Inspection 2 New Orleans, Louisiana TBD*
* Delayed pending Levee Inspection System (LIS) and inspection checklist integration, testing
and final implementation.

The Levee Safety Update is an unofficial publication of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Levee Safety Program and contains infor-
mation about initiatives that are under development and may change in subsequent updates. It provides levee safety program
information to levee safety officers, levee safety program managers, other communities of practice and others interested in levee
safety. Questions or suggestions for future issues can be emailed to: [email protected] . Please visit our web-
site at: http://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Levee-Safety-Program/