Fixing levees isn't easy or cheap

Communities responsible for maintaining levees publicly identified as substandard by the federal government are racing to fix problems caused by years of neglect.

One obstacle might prove more formidable than the levees themselves: money.

The Army Corps of Engineers identified 122 levees on Thursday that it said posed an unacceptable risk of failing in a flood. Although a few of the levees protect major cities such as Albuquerque and Sacramento, many guard sparsely populated areas and have been overgrown with trees and brush that could weaken them.

MORE: Corps reveals locations

The levees were identified by a corps inspection program that intensified after Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed Gulf Coast levees in August 2005.

The corps has given the communities a year to make repairs. That deadline has left levee owners — primarily local governments for whom the corps built the levees — scrambling for the money to get the job done. For some, the challenge is significant.

Cost is large, but time short

In tiny Lincoln, N.H., floodwaters dug gaps between some of a levee's granite blocks in 1995. "It's not like it's going to fall down tomorrow," town manager Ted Sutton said. Even so, he estimated repairs will cost $500,000 to $1 million.

Sutton said he's frustrated by the corps' deadline. The town has three months to produce a repair plan and one year to fix the levee, which protects about 90 homes and businesses. The levee is currently covered by snow and ice. "They're demanding we give them a plan in the middle of winter. I don't think so," he said. "It's frozen and under snow."

Repairing the levee in a year also will prove financially difficult, he said. "It took us 10 years to save enough money to build a new town hall, and that only cost between $250,000 to $300,000," he said. "We have no way of paying for something like that. It's just impossible."

from USA Today