U. S. Army Corps Of Engineers

, colors =
, anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day)
, battles =
, battles_label = Wars
, website =
, commander1 = LTG Scott A. Spellmon
, commander1_label = Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
, commander2 = MGbr>Richard J. Heitkamp
, commander2_label = Deputy Chief of Engineers and Deputy Commanding General
, commander3 = MG
Kimberly M. Colloton
, commander3_label = Deputy Commanding General for Military and International Operations
, commander4 = MGbr>William H. Graham
, commander4_label = Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operations
, commander5 = COLbr>James J. Handura
, commander5_label = Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters
, commander6 = CSMbr>Patrickson Toussaint
, commander6_label = Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
, identification_symbol =
, identification_symbol_label = Flag
, identification_symbol_2 =
, identification_symbol_2_label = Logo
, identification_symbol_3 =
, identification_symbol_3_label = Coat of arms
, identification_symbol_5 =
, identification_symbol_5_label = Engineer Regimental insignia
, identification_symbol_6 = USACE
, identification_symbol_6_label = Abbreviation

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is an engineer formation of the United States Army that has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil works. The day-to-day activities of the three mission areas are administered by a lieutenant general known as the commanding general/chief of engineers. The chief of engineers commands the Engineer Regiment, comprising combat engineer, rescue, construction, dive, and other specialty units, and answers directly to the Chief of Staff of the Army. Combat engineers, sometimes called sappers, form an integral part of the Army's combined arms team and are found in all Army service components: Regular Army, National Guard, and Army Reserve. Their duties are to breach obstacles; construct fighting positions, fixed/floating bridges, and obstacles and defensive positions; place and detonate explosives; conduct route clearance operations; emplace and detect landmines; and fight as provisional infantry when required. For the military construction mission, the commanding general is directed and supervised by the Assistant Secretary of the Army for installations, environment, and energy, whom the President appoints and the Senate confirms. Military construction relates to construction on military bases and worldwide installations.

Continental Congress authority for a "Chief Engineer for the Army" dates from 16 June 1775. Congress authorized a corps of engineers for the United States on 11 March 1779. The Corps as it is known today came into being on 16 March 1802, when the president was authorized to "organize and establish a Corps of Engineers ... that the said Corps ... shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York and shall constitute a Military Academy." A Corps of Topographical Engineers, authorized on 4 July 1838, merged with the Corps of Engineers in March 1863.

For the civil works mission the commanding general is directed and supervised by the Assistant Secretary of the Army, also appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Army civil works consists of three congressionally authorized business lines: navigation, flood and storm damage protection, and aquatic ecosystem restoration. Civil works is also tasked with administering the Clean Water Act Section 404 program, recreation, hydropower, and water supply at USACE flood control reservoirs, and environmental infrastructure. The civil works staff oversee construction, operation, and maintenance of dams, canals and flood protection in the U.S., as well as a wide range of public works throughout the world. USACE has 37,000 civilian and military personnel, making it one of the world's largest public engineering, design, and construction management agencies. Some of its dams, reservoirs, and flood control projects also serve as public outdoor recreation facilities. Its hydroelectric projects provide 24% of U.S. hydropower capacity. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and has a budget of $7.8 billion (FY2021).

The corps's mission is to "deliver vital public and military engineering services; partnering in peace and war to strengthen our nation's security, energize the economy and reduce risks from disasters."

Its most visible civil works missions include:

* Planning, designing, building, and operating locks and dams. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment, and dredging for waterway navigation.
* Design and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates.
* Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve, and Air Force Reserve as well as other Department of Defense and federal government agencies.
* Environmental regulation and ecosystem restoration.

History

Early history

The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to the revolutionary era. On 16 June 1775, the Continental Congress organized an army which staff included a chief engineer and two assistants.The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: A Brief History
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters. Colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washington's first chief engineer. One of his first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill. The Continental Congress recognized the need for engineers trained in military fortifications and asked the government of King Louis XVI of France for assistance. Many of the early engineers in the Continental Army were former French officers.

Louis Lebègue Duportail, a lieutenant colonel in the French Royal Corps of Engineers, was secretly sent to North America in March 1777 to serve in George Washington's Continental Army. In July 1777 he was appointed colonel and commander of all engineers in the Continental Army and, on 17 November 1777, he was promoted to brigadier general. When the Continental Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers in May 1779, Duportail was appointed as its commander. In late 1781 he directed the construction of the allied U.S.-French siege works at the Battle of Yorktown.

On 26 February 1783, the Corps was disbanded. It was re-established during the Presidency of George Washington.

From 1794 to 1802, the engineers were combined with the artillery as the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.

The Corps of Engineers, as it is known today, was established on 16 March 1802, when President Thomas Jefferson signed the Military Peace Establishment Act, whose aim was to "organize and establish a Corps of Engineers ... that the said Corps ... shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York and shall constitute a military academy." Until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an Engineer Officer.

The General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey road and canal routes for the growing nation. That same year, Congress passed an "Act to Improve the Navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers" and to remove sand bars on the Ohio and "planters, sawyers, or snags" (trees fixed in the riverbed) on the Mississippi, for which the Corps of Engineers was identified as the responsible agency.

Formerly separate units

Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the Corps of Topographical Engineers consisted only of officers and was used for mapping and the design and construction of federal civil works and other coastal fortifications and navigational routes. It was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers also assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes.

In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey. The survey, based in Detroit, Michigan, was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids. The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852.

In the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers' officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U.S. Naval officers.

Civil War

The Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War. Many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this organization were West Point graduates. Several rose to military fame and power during the Civil War. Some examples include Union generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, and George Meade; and Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, and P.G.T. Beauregard. The versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges, forts and batteries, destroying enemy supply lines (including railroads), and constructing roads for the movement of troops and supplies. Both sides recognized the critical work of engineers. On 6 March 1861, once the South had seceded from the Union, its legislature passed an act to create a Confederate Corps of Engineers.First Lieutenant Shaun Martin, "Confederate Engineers in the American Civil War," ''Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers''. Technology Industry. U.S. Civil War Center

The South was initially at a disadvantage in engineering expertise; of the initial 65 cadets who resigned from West Point to accept positions with the Confederate Army, only seven were placed in the Corps of Engineers. The Confederate Congress passed legislation that authorized a company of engineers for every division in the field; by 1865, the CSA had more engineer officers serving in the field of action than the Union Army.

One of the main projects for the Army Corps of Engineers was constructing railroads and bridges. Union forces took advantage of such Confederate infrastructure because railroads and bridges provided access to resources and industry. The Confederate engineers outperformed the Union Army in building fortifications that were used both offensively and defensively, along with trenches that made them harder to penetrate. This method of building trenches was known as the zigzag pattern.

20th century

The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized a reserve corps in the Army, and the Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps and the Engineer Enlisted Reserve Corps became one of the branches. Some of these personnel were called into active service for World War I.

From the beginning, many politicians wanted the Corps of Engineers to contribute to both military construction and civil works. Assigned the military construction mission on 1 December 1941, after the Quartermaster Department struggled with the expanding mission, the Corps built facilities at home and abroad to support the U.S. Army and Air Force. During World War II the USACE program expanded to more than 27,000 military and industrial projects in a $15.3 billion mobilization effort. Included were aircraft, tank assembly, and ammunition plants; camps for 5.3 million soldiers; depots, ports, and hospitals; and the rapid construction of such landmark projects such as the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, Hanford and Oak Ridge among other places, and the Pentagon, the Department of Defense headquarters across the Potomac from Washington, DC.

In civilian projects, the Corps of Engineers became the lead federal navigation and flood control agency. Congress significantly expanded its civil works activities, becoming a major provider of hydroelectric energy and the country's leading provider of recreation, Its role in responding to natural disasters also grew dramatically, especially following the devastating Mississippi Flood of 1927. In the late 1960s, the agency became a leading environmental preservation and restoration agency.

In 1944, specially trained army combat engineers were assigned to blow up underwater obstacles and clear defended ports during the invasion of Normandy. During World War II, the Army Corps of Engineers in the European Theater of Operations was responsible for building numerous bridges, including the first and longest floating tactical bridge across the Rhine at Remagen, and building or maintaining roads vital to the Allied advance across Europe into the heart of Germany. In the Pacific theater, the "Pioneer troops" were formed, a hand-selected unit of volunteer Army combat engineers trained in jungle warfare, knife fighting, and unarmed jujitsu (hand-to-hand combat) techniques.Whittaker, Wayne, "Tough Guys", ''Popular Mechanics'', February 1943, Vol. 79 No. 2, pp. 41, 44-45 Working in camouflage, the Pioneers cleared jungle, prepared routes of advance and established bridgeheads for the infantry, as well as demolishing enemy installations.

Five commanding generals (chiefs of staff after the 1903 reorganization) of the United States Army held engineer commissions early in their careers. All transferred to other branches before being promoted to the top position. They were Alexander Macomb, George B. McClellan, Henry W. Halleck, Douglas MacArthur, and Maxwell D. Taylor.

Notable dates and projects

* The General Survey Act of 1824 authorized use of army engineers to survey roads and canals. The next month, an act to improve navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers initiated the Corps of Engineers' permanent civil works construction mission. Although the 1824 act to improve the Mississippi and Ohio rivers is often called the first rivers and harbors legislation, the act passed in 1826 was the first to combine authorizations for both surveys and projects, thereby establishing a pattern that continues to the present day.
* Survey and construction of the National Road until Federal funds were withdrawn (1838)
* The tall Washington Monument, completed under the direction and command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey, 1884
* Panama Canal, completed under supervision of Army Engineer officers, 1914
* Flood Control Act of 1936, completed in 1937
* Flood Control Act of 1941, which channelized the Los Angeles River and parts of the Santa Ana River
* USACE took over all real estate acquisition, construction, and maintenance for army facilities, 1941
* There was no road between Costa Rica and Panama until the Corps began one in 1941–1943. The concern was access to the Panama Canal during wartime.
* The Manhattan Project (1942–1946)
* Planning and construction of The Pentagon, completed in 1943 just 16 months after groundbreaking
* Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan, first authorized by congress in 1948
* USACE began construction support for NASA leading to major activities at the Manned Spacecraft Center and Kennedy Space Center, 1961
* King Khalid Military City 1973–1987.
* The Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (WRDA 86) brought major change in financing by requiring non-federal contributions toward most federal water resource projects
* Cross Florida Barge Canal
* Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway
Occasional civil disasters, including the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, resulted in greater responsibilities for the Corps of Engineers. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans provides another example of this.

Organization

Headquarters

The Chief of Engineers/Commanding General (Lt. general) of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has three mission areas: combat engineers, military construction, and civil works. For each mission area the Chief of Engineers/Commanding General is supervised by a different person. For civil works the Commanding General is supervised by the civilian Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works). Three deputy commanding generals (major generals) report to the chief of engineers, who have the following titles: Deputy Commanding General, Deputy Commanding General for Civil and Emergency Operation, and Deputy Commanding General for Military and International Operations. The Corps of Engineers headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The headquarters staff is responsible for Corps of Engineers policy and plans the future direction of all other USACE organizations. It comprises the executive office and 17 staff principals. USACE has two civilian directors who head up Military and Civil Works programs in concert with their respective DCG for the mission area.

Divisions and districts

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is organized geographically into eight permanent divisions, one provisional division, one provisional district, and one research command reporting directly to the HQ. Within each division, there are several districts. Districts are defined by watershed boundaries for civil works projects and by political boundaries for military projects.

* Great Lakes and Ohio River Division (LRD), located in Cincinnati. Reaches from the St Lawrence Seaway, across the Great Lakes, down the Ohio River Valley to the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers. Covers , parts of 17 states. Serves 56 million people. Its seven districts are located in Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Louisville, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Huntington, West Virginia. The division commander serves on two national and international decision-making bodies: co-chair of the Lake Superior, Niagara, and Ontario/St Lawrence Seaway boards of control; and the Mississippi River Commission.
* Mississippi Valley Division (MVD), located in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Reaches from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Covers , and portions of 12 states bordering the Mississippi River. Serves 28 million people. Its six districts are located in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rock Island, Illinois, St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans. MVD serves as headquarters for the Mississippi River Commission.
* North Atlantic Division (NAD), headquartered at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York. Reaches from Maine to Virginia, including the District of Columbia, with an overseas mission to provide engineering, construction, and project management services to the U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command. Serves 62 million people. Its six districts are located in New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, Concord, Massachusetts, and Wiesbaden, Germany. NAD has the largest Superfund program in USACE with 60% of the funding. NAD's Europe District has done work in dozens of countries and has offices in Germany, Belgium, Italy, Turkey, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Israel, Spain, and soon Botswana.
* Northwestern Division (NWD), located in Portland, Oregon. Reaches from Canada to California, and from the Pacific Ocean to Missouri. Covers nearly in all or parts of 14 states. Its five districts are located in Omaha, Portland, Seattle, Kansas City, and Walla Walla. NWD has 35% of the total Corps of Engineers' water storage capacity and 75% of the total hydroelectric capacity.
* Pacific Ocean Division (POD), located at Fort Shafter, Hawaii. Reaches across 12 million square miles of the Pacific Ocean from the Arctic Circle to American Samoa below the equator and across the International Date Line, and into Asia. includes the territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as well as the Freely Associated States including the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Its four districts are located in Japan; Seoul, South Korea; Anchorage, Alaska; and Honolulu. Unlike other military work, POD designs and builds for all of the military services — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines — in Japan, Korea, and Kwajalein Atoll.
* South Atlantic Division (SAD), located in Atlanta. Reaches from North Carolina to Alabama as well as the Caribbean, and Central America, Central and South America. Covers all or parts of six states. Its five districts are located in Wilmington, North Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, Savannah, Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville, and Mobile, Alabama, Mobile. One-third of the stateside Army and one-fifth of the stateside Air Force are located within the division boundaries. The largest single environmental restoration project in the world — the Restoration of the Everglades, Everglades Restoration — is managed by SAD.
* South Pacific Division (SPD), located in San Francisco. Reaches from California to Colorado and New Mexico. Covers all or parts of seven states. Its four districts are located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, Sacramento, California, Sacramento, and San Francisco. Its region is host to 18 of the 25 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the nation.
* Southwestern Division (SWD), located in Dallas. Reaches from Mexico to Kansas. Covers all or part of seven states. Its four districts are located in Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa, Galveston, Texas, Galveston, and Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth. SWD's recreation areas are the most visited in USACE with more than of shoreline and 1,172 recreation sites.
* Transatlantic Division (TAD), located in Winchester, Virginia. Supports Federal programs and policies overseas. Consists of the Gulf Region District, the Afghanistan Engineer District South, the Afghanistan Engineer District North, the Middle East District, the USACE Deployment Center and the TAD G2 Intelligence Fusion Center. TAD oversees thousands of projects overseas. TAD overseas locations are staffed primarily by civilian volunteers from throughout USACE. The Corps of Engineers built much of the original Highway 1 (Afghanistan), Ring Road in the early 1960s and returned in 2002. Supports the full spectrum of regional support, including the Afghan National Security Forces, U.S. and Coalition Forces, Counter Narcotics and Border Management, Strategic Reconstruction support to USAID, and the Commander's Emergency Response Program.

The Engineer Regiment

U.S. Army engineer units outside of USACE Districts and not listed below fall under the Engineer Regiment of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which comprises the majority of Army engineer soldiers. The Regiment includes combat engineers, whose duties are to breach obstacles; construct fighting positions, fixed/floating bridges, and obstacles and defensive positions; place and detonate explosives; conduct route clearance operations; emplace and detect landmines; and fight as provisional infantry when required. It also includes support engineers, who are more focused on construction and sustainment. Headquartered at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, the Engineer Regiment is commanded by the Engineer Commandant, currently a position filled by an Army brigadier general.

The Engineer Regiment includes the U.S. Army Engineer School (USAES) which publishes its mission as: Generate the military engineer capabilities the Army needs: training and certifying Soldiers with the right knowledge, skills, and critical thinking; growing and educating professional leaders; organizing and equipping units; establishing a doctrinal framework for employing capabilities; and remaining an adaptive institution in order to provide Commanders with the freedom of action they need to successfully execute Unified Land Operations.

Other USACE organizations

There are several other organizations within the Corps of Engineers:
* Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) — the Corps of Engineers research and development command. ERDC comprises seven laboratories. (see United States Army Corps of Engineers#Research, research below)
* U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center (CEHNC) — provides engineering and technical services, program and project management, construction management, and innovative contracting initiatives, for programs that are national or broad in scope or not normally provided by other Corps of Engineers elements
* Finance Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CEFC) — supports the operating finance and accounting functions throughout the Corps of Engineers
* Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity (HECSA) — provides administrative and operational support for Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and various field offices.
* Army Geospatial Center (AGC)  — provides geospatial information, standards, systems, support, and services across the Army and the Department of Defense.
* Marine Design Center (CEMDC) — provides total project management including planning, engineering, and shipbuilding contract management in support of USACE, Army, and national water resource projects in peacetime, and augments the military construction capacity in time of national emergency or mobilization
* Institute for Water Resources (IWR) — supports the Civil Works Directorate and other Corps of Engineers commands by developing and applying new planning evaluation methods, policies and data in anticipation of changing water resources management conditions.
* USACE Logistics Activity (ULA)- Provides logistics support to the Corps of Engineers including supply, maintenance, readiness, materiel, transportation, travel, aviation, facility management, integrated logistics support, management controls, and strategic planning.
* Enterprise Infrastructure Services (CEEIS) — designs information technology standards for the Corps, including automation, communications, management, visual information, printing, records management, and information assurance. CEEIS outsources the maintenance of its IT services, forming the Army Corps of Engineers Information Technology (ACE-IT). ACE-IT is made up of both civilian government employees and contractors.
* Deployable Tactical Operations System (DTOS) — provides mobile command and control platforms in support of the quick ramp-up of initial emergency response missions for the Corps. DTOS is a system designed to respond to District, Division, National, and International events.
*Until 2001 local Directorates of Engineering and Housing (DEH), being constituents of the USACE, had been responsible for the housing, infrastructure and related tasks as environmental protection, garbage removal and special fire departments or fire alarm coordination centers in the garrisons of the U.S. Army abroad as in Europe (e.g. Germany, as in Berlin, Wiesbaden, Karlsruhe etc.) Subsequently, a similar structure called DPWs (Directorates of Public Works), subordinate to the United States Army Installation Management Command, assumed the tasks formerly done by the DEHs.

Directly reporting military units

* 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) — generates and distributes prime electric power, electrical power in support of fighting wars, disaster relief, stability and support operations as well as provides advice and technical assistance in all aspects of electrical power and distribution systems.
* 911th Engineer Company — (formerly the MDW Engineer Company) provides specialized technical search and rescue support for the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area; it is also a vital support member of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region, which is charged with the homeland security of the United States capital region.
* 412th Engineer Command (United States), 412th Theater Engineer Command, U.S. Army Reserve, located in Vicksburg, MS.
* 416th Engineer Command, 416th Theater Engineer Command, U.S. Army Reserve, located in Darien, IL.

Mission areas

Warfighting

USACE provides support directly and indirectly to the warfighting effort. They build and help maintain much of the infrastructure that the Army and the Air Force use to train, house, and deploy troops. USACE built and maintained navigation systems and ports provide the means to Deployments of the United States Military, deploy vital equipment and other material. Corps of Engineers Research and Development (R&D) facilities help develop new methods and measures for deployment, force protection, terrain analysis, mapping, and other support.

USACE directly supports the military in the battle zone, making expertise available to commanders to help solve or avoid engineering (and other) problems. Forward Engineer Support Teams, FEST-A's or FEST-M's, may accompany combat engineers to provide immediate support, or to reach electronically into the rest of USACE for the necessary expertise. A FEST-A team is an eight-person detachment; a FEST-M is approximately 36. These teams are designed to provide immediate technical-engineering support to the warfighter or in a disaster area. Corps of Engineers' professionals use the knowledge and skills honed on both military and civil projects to support the U.S. and local communities in the areas of real estate, contracting, mapping, construction, logistics, engineering, and management experience. This work currently includes support for rebuilding Iraq, establishing Afghanistan infrastructure, and supporting international and inter-agency services.

In addition, the work of almost 26,000 civilians on civil-works programs throughout USACE provides a training ground for similar capabilities worldwide. USACE civilians volunteer for assignments worldwide. For example, hydropower experts have helped repair, renovate, and run hydropower dams in Iraq in an effort to help get Iraqis to become self-sustaining.From ''Serving The Armed Forces and The Nation'' 2007 edition (October 2007), and data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Homeland security

USACE supports the United States' Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) through its security planning, force protection, research and development, disaster preparedness efforts, and quick response to emergencies and disasters.

The CoE conducts its emergency response activities under two basic authorities — the Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Act (), and the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (). In a typical year, the Corps of Engineers responds to more than 30 Presidential disaster declarations, plus numerous state and local emergencies. Emergency responses usually involve cooperation with other military elements and Federal agencies in support of State and local efforts.

Infrastructure support

Work comprises engineering and management support to military installations, global real estate support, civil works support (including risk and priorities), operations and maintenance of Federal navigation and flood control projects, and monitoring of dams and levees.

More than 67 percent of the goods consumed by Americans and more than half of the nation's oil imports are processed through list of deep water ports, deepwater ports maintained by the Corps of Engineers, which maintains more than of commercially navigable channels across the U.S.

In both its Civil Works mission and Military Construction program, the Corps of Engineers is responsible for billions of dollars of the nation's infrastructure. For example, USACE maintains direct control of 609 dams, maintains or operates 257 navigation locks, and operates 75 hydroelectric facilities generating 24% of the nation's hydropower and three percent of its total electricity. USACE inspects over 2,000 Federal and non-Federal levees every two years.

Four billion gallons of water per day are drawn from the Corps of Engineers' 136 multi-use flood control projects comprising of water storage, making it one of the United States' largest water supply agencies.

The 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power), the only active duty unit in USACE, generates and distributes prime electrical power in support of warfighting, disaster relief, stability and support operations as well as provides advice and technical assistance in all aspects of electrical power and distribution systems. The battalion deployed in support of recovery operations after 9/11 and was instrumental in getting Wall Street back up and running within a week. The battalion also deployed in support of post-Katrina operations.

All of this work represents a significant investment in the nation's resources.

Water resources

Through its Civil Works program, USACE carries out a wide array of projects that provide coastal protection, flood protection, hydropower, navigable waters and ports, recreational opportunities, and water supply. Work includes coastal protection and restoration, including a new emphasis on a more holism, holistic approach to risk management. As part of this work, USACE is the number one provider of outdoor recreation in the U.S., so there is a significant emphasis on water safety.

Army involvement in works "of a civil nature," including water resources, goes back almost to the origins of the U.S. Over the years, as the nation's needs have changed, so have the Army's Civil Works missions.

Major areas of emphasis include the following:

* Navigation. Supporting navigation by maintaining and improving channels was the Corps of Engineers' earliest Civil Works mission, dating to Federal laws in 1824 authorizing the Corps to improve safety on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and several ports. Today, the Corps of Engineers maintains more than of inland waterways and operates 235 locks. These waterways—a system of rivers, lakes and coastal bays improved for commercial and recreational transportation—carry about of the nation's inter-city freight, at a cost per ton-mile about that of rail or that of trucks. USACE also maintains 300 commercial harbors, through which pass of cargo a year, and more than 600 smaller harbors. New locks are needed, according to the Corps and barge shippers, where existing locks are in poor condition, requiring frequent closures for repairs, and/or because a lock's size causes delays for barge tows.
* Flood Risk Management. The Engineers were first called upon to address flood problems along the Mississippi river in the mid-19th century. They began work on the Mississippi River and Tributaries Flood Control Project in 1928, and the Flood Control Act of 1936

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