U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Resources Planning A New Opportunity for Service (2004) / Chapter Skim
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3 Trends and Milestones in Corps History
3 Trends and Milestones in Corps History
Pages 34-47
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From page 34... ...
This chapter places these current controversies in the context of important historical trends and events in federal water resources planning and management. ORIGINS OF THE CORPS From Forts to Navigation Enhancement Early influences on the Corps of Engineers can be traced back to eighteenth century Europe, as many initial Corps engineering methods drew on engineering theories developed in France (Shallat, 2000)
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From page 35... ...
On inland rivers and waterways, continuous dredging and the operation and maintenance of water control structures of locks and dams maintain a minimum 9-foot channel throughout the nation's inland water transportation network. The Corps has also promoted efforts to be responsive to the needs of ecosystems, as in its efforts to fluctuate the levels of navigation pools on the Upper Mississippi River so as to increase hydrologic variability and ecosystem vitality (see USACE, 2004a)
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From page 36... ...
. In fact, the 1938 Flood Control Act authorized the Chief of Engineers to propose floodplain evacuation projects as a flood risk management strategy.
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From page 37... ...
The idea that hydrologic processes did not respect political boundaries, which the Supreme Court had earlier endorsed in its definitions of navigability, eventually formed the basis for what one author called the "pure doctrine of river basin management" (Wengert, 1981) : federal construction and management of comprehensively planned and related water control dams, levees, channels, and other works that would serve multiple purposes including navigation, flood control, hydropower generation, and water supply storage.
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From page 38... ...
with programs designed to protect the valley from future floods, became a pillar of water management policy after the 1927 flood. In 1936, the Corps was instructed to plan for and build dams, along with other water control infrastructure, to serve multiple purposes that included navigation and flood control, as well as water supply, hydropower, and recreation.
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From page 39... ...
By 1934, the National Resources Planning Board stated the challenge of water management as follows: "In the interests of national welfare there must be maximum control of water resources, from the desert trickle that might make and acre or two productive to the raging flood waters of the Mississippi." The Truman administration's 1950 report, Water in America's Future, included a sketch of a well-managed watershed of the era. In the watershed's broad upper reaches, land treatment and reforestation programs slow runoff.
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From page 40... ...
In 1965 the Congress passed the Water Resources Planning Act, which represented a commitment by both the executive and congressional branches to rational water resources planning. That act created a three-part planning approach to national water resources management to be administered by a federal Water Resources Council (WRC)
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From page 41... ...
Opponents of water projects soon could rely on new laws and agencies empowered to apply those laws, as well as their growing political influence, to oppose water project construction. Passage of the 1972 Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amend
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From page 42... ...
Others, however, see restoration as a search to reclaim part of our wilderness heritage, in which rivers are natural ribbons of awe and grandeur to be enjoyed in their natural state. Because Corps projects have modified so many of the nation's rivers and coastlines, aquatic ecosystem restoration has brought past Corps project development activities, as well as proposals for new projects, to the center of the national debate over water management.
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From page 43... ...
. Although the Corps has been inclined to move toward a new mission and approach to water management, other forces have operated to maintain the agency's focus on local and individual water control and harbor projects.
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From page 44... ...
water management is one in which the Corps alone cannot always resolve contrasting visions of what is appropriate. Today, a welter of environmental laws passed in the later part of the 1960s and 1970s, in combination with incremental additions to the Corps' own authorities, have created multiple and highly specific planning goals and constraints (e.g., protection of a particular fish or plant species listed under the Endangered Species Act)
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From page 45... ...
However described, the current national water governance system begs for more effective collaboration and cooperation. In this setting, the Corps and the nation should reconsider the role of the rational planning practices and procedures that were designed to serve a more hierarchically structured and federally focused decision process.
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From page 46... ...
The 1973 NWC report assumed that federal water resources project development would continue at a lesser rate than post-World War II activity, but would continue to be the primary federal water resources function, and thus, there was a need to continue to refine project planning and selection techniques. Water Policies for the Future contained additional foresight regarding water resources decision making.
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From page 47... ...
Trends and Milestones in Corps History 47 port examines ways in which the Corps of Engineers might best contribute to the nation's water resources needs in the twenty-first century. The following chapter discusses ways in which the Corps' planning functions might be reoriented to tailor them to existing and future conditions and needs.
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