This is one of two Branches in the Regional Business Technical Division.
(1) Water Management Program has oversight responsibility for the water management activities of the four SWD Districts. These responsibilities include flood risk management, water supply, hydropower, navigation, water quality, fish and wildlife enhancement, and recreation.
(2) The Southwestern Division Dam Safety Program has the responsibility to protect life, property, and the environment by ensuring that all dams are designed, constructed, operated, and maintained as safely and effectively as is reasonably possible.
(3) The Southwestern Division Levee Safety Program’s mission is to work with others to assess, communicate and manage inundation risks to people, property and the environment resulting from breach or malfunction of components of levee systems.
(4) The Southwestern Division Bridge Safety Program must assure that all bridges owned or maintained by USACE on Civil Works projects are inspected and inventoried to ensure their safety and structural integrity.
SWD’s Civil Works area of responsibility includes all or part of six states [TX,OK,KS,MO,AR,LA] where we oversee hundreds of water resources projects. In all, we are responsible for some 2.3 million acres of public land and water, 29% of the Corps’ total area. Currently, we have 16 projects under construction and operate and maintain an additional 125 multipurpose projects. Our Civil Works program totals about one-half billion this fiscal year and our projects prevented about $9.4B in flood damage reduction during record-setting regional rainfall in 2011. That event impacted many of our projects from Kansas, through Oklahoma and Texas where our projects operated as designed to reduce human suffering and economic losses. While reducing the flood damage, our projects region-wide incurred close to $170M in primary and recreation facility damage.
Actions associated with water management in the Southwestern Division include:
Flood Damage Reduction
- 760 miles of Local Flood Protection Projects
- $53.8B cumulative damages prevented
- More than 33M acre-feet of flood storage
Navigation
- 2 major waterways
- 4 of the Nation’s top 10 ports
- 12 deep-water and 22 shallow-draft ports
- 1,458 miles of channels
- More than one-half billion tons of commerce shipped annually
- 2 major national waterways (MKARNS, GIWW)
- 4 of the Nation’s top 10 ports
- 12 deep-water and 22 shallow-draft ports
- 1,458 miles of channels
- More than one-half billion tons of commerce shipped annually
Hydroelectric Power
- 18 power plants
- 8 non-Federal power plants at Corps dams
- 87% of hydropower capacity in region
Water Supply
- 7.7millian acre-feet of storage for municipal, industrial and agricultural use
Recreation
- 11,400 miles of lake shoreline
- 1,172 recreation sites; 28,112 campsites
- 83.6million recreation visits annually
Regulatory
- 4,870 jurisdictional determinations in Fiscal Year 2011
- 3,569 activities authorized under general permits; 326 individual permits