Civil Works

The Southwestern Division’s Civil Works Mission area of responsibility embraces all or part of six states, an expanse that contains about 10 percent of the land area (376,300 square miles) and 11 percent of the total population (36.3 million) of the United States based on the calendar year 2020 population data. The Southwestern Division’s Civil Works program involves planning, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of water resource projects to meet the region’s need for water supply, flood damage reduction, navigation, aquatic ecosystem restoration, hydropower, recreation and other water-related needs.

 

Project Facts:

  • Flood Damage Reduction:  74 flood damage reduction reservoirs and 760 miles of local protection projects.  More than $85 billion of cumulative flood damages prevented.
  • Navigation:  Second in the Corps with more than 500 million tons of cargo transported annually. 
  • Recreation:  Number one in the Corps with 83 million recreation visitors annually.
  • Hydropower:  Second in the Corps.  87% of region’s hydropower capacity producing 6.7 billion kw hours. 
  • Water Supply:  Number one in the Corps with 75% of Corps’ water supply.  Equates to 8.4 million acre-feet of water storage.  Enough to provide annual needs for 1.8 million households.
  • Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration/Environmental Stewardship:  Restored tens of thousands of acres of wetlands.  Manages 91 lakes with a total of 2,335,185 acres of land and 1,225,100 acres of water with over 11,000 miles of shoreline projects
  • Regulatory:  Over 5000 permit decisions annually for protection of waters & wetlands