Flood Control

In the 20th century the problem of flood control in the United States has assumed national importance because of the increasing frequency and intensity of floods in all of the great river valleys as a result of deforestation. In addition, agricultural and industrial development in these valleys has necessitated a coordinated program of flood control. Federal legislation has been passed to aid the states in effecting adequate control measures.

Federal action in this field was long hampered by many constitutional limitations. As late as 1879 the problem of Mississippi River flood control was left to the 31 states in that river's drainage system. In that year, the federal government, under the guise of improving navigation (a power constitutionally granted to it), helped finance the construction of levees. The federal government has played an increasingly important role in the problem of flood control.

When scientific research into the causes of floods showed that the construction of levees was insufficient as a method of control, the first steps were made to provide for reforestation and soil conservation. The Clarke-McNary Act of 1924, the Mississippi Flood Control Act of 1928, and the McSweeney-McNary Act of 1928 were all directed toward that end. In 1935 the Soil Conservation Service was established by the Congress of the United States under an act declaring a policy of permanent provision for control and prevention of soil erosion, and for control of floods. In the same year the Fulmer Act was passed, authorizing the secretary of agriculture to enter into cooperative agreements with the states for better forest land management. In 1937 further authority was granted to the secretary of agriculture in the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act to control soil erosion and to mitigate floods. Another act of Congress provided for an investigation of the material resources in the California watersheds. Similar acts covered the watersheds of the Río Grande and the Pecos River. The period of the 1930s is notable for the many national forests that were established to assist in the soil-conservation program. The most important single act directed at the problem of flood control was the establishment of the TVA in 1933.

By 1940 the Supreme Court of the United States had passed on the constitutionality of almost all federal activities in the field of flood control and had upheld actions that related to almost all waters of the United States, without limiting these actions to the navigable streams, as had been done earlier. In the Flood Control Act of 1946, Congress authorized construction of 123 projects to aid river regulation, flood control, and power development.

In 1972 Congress moved to reduce the hazards from the 28,000 nonfederal dams in the country by passing a bill providing for a dam-inspection program. The action was spurred by two disastrous dam failures during the year. At Buffalo Creek, West Virginia, a makeshift dam at a coal mine site collapsed with a loss of more than 100 lives; and at Rapid City, South Dakota, two earthen dams gave way, resulting in more than 200 deaths.

Many aspects of flood control can be handled by individual states or groups of states acting on a regional basis. One such project, completed in 1922, is the Miami Conservancy District, a system of reservoirs in the Miami River valley in Ohio that works to reduce flood hazards. Such organizations as the Los Angeles County Flood Control District, the TVA, and others relating to specific areas have made important studies of hydrologic and meteorological conditions to aid in the forecasting of flood dangers and to plan flood control.