Reports on individual project operations and related Civil Works activitie 10 January 1956 SUBJECT: Annual Report on Civil Works Activities, Fiscal Year TO: 1955. THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY. 1. I present herewith a report for the fiscal year 1955 concerning the civil functions of the Department of the Army administered by the Chief of Engineers. 2. Civil Works activities of the Corps of Engineers include the planning, funding, construction, operation, and maintenance of works designed for navigation and flood control, including the multiplepurpose water resource developments associated therewith, as authorized by law. The first of the two volumes of my report gives a brief description and summary of the civil works portion of the responsibilities assigned to the Chief of Engineers, along with a record of accomplishments during the year. The second volume sets forth the detailed engineering, fiscal and statistical data pertaining to the various projects and phases of the authorized program. Your attention is especially invited to the major features and problems of the program outlined below that were pursued during the year. 3. Waterborne commerce of the United States continued at relatively high intensity during 1954, although some decline was experienced from the preceding year, particularly on the Great Lakes where there was a temporary leveling off of industrial production but, which, by the end of the year again took an upward trend. During fiscal year 1955 four additional navigation improvements for vessel traffic were completed, and 28 others were still under construction. Maintenance operations, such as dredging, repairs, and restoration of structures were conducted at 219 harbors and waterways, at a total cost of approximately $60,000,000. These funds. were sufficient for only the barest essential needs of commerce at deep-draft harbors, on major inland waterways, and in a few lesser channels where hardships would result from nonmaintenance. Among the major navigation works under construction by the Corps of Engineers are the St. Lawrence Seaway project, under the direction of the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, and the modernization of Greenup and New Cumberland Locks and Dams which latter comprise the first units of a program for progressive improvement of navigation facilities on the Ohio River. 4. The authorized flood control program was carried forward at an accelerated rate over that of the previous year. Under the nation wide flood control program construction was continued on 56 projects including 7 that were placed in useful operation. In the Alluvia Valley of the Mississippi River project a total of 74 miles of main-lin levees was constructed and a length of about 30 miles of permanen revetment was placed to protect the main-stem channel. Work o the main stem of the Mississippi has reached a point where excellen protection is afforded except in some exposed backwater areas. 5. Substantial progress has been made on the Federal flood contro program, but flood protection is still an urgent matter, and minimum protection is not yet available in many areas. Projects now in full or partial operation have prevented flood damages estimated at about $491 million annually, but unprevented losses of about $420 million annually still exist. In terms of actual flood experience, Federal flood control projects completed or in partial operation, during an average period of operation of about 11 years, have prevented flood damages totaling more than twice the total amount of the Federal appropriations provided for the construction of those projects. 6. Additional large multiple-purpose reservoir projects have been designed and are under construction, primarily for navigation, flood control, and the production of hydroelectric power. As indicated below, these projects often furnish important incidental benefits, including water supply, pollution abatement, increased recreational opportunities for millions of citizens, and the preservation and enhancement of fish and wildlife values. During the year, construction operations of this type were carried out on 23 projects, of which one was completed. Maintenance activities were conducted on the 28 projects already in operating status. 7. Great strides continue to be made by the Corps in constructing and operating hydroelectric power production facilities. Additional generating capacity installed during the year amounted to 643,000 kilowatts, which represents 34 percent of the hydroelectric capacity, or 4.3 percent of the total generating capacity, added to the Nation's utility systems during the year. This exceeded the amount of power added during any previous year except one. The 12.6 billion kilowatt hours of energy generated at Corps of Engineers projects represents about 11.7 percent of the hydroelectric energy and about 2.5 percent of the total energy production by all sources of electricity available to the Nation. 8. Besides serving their primary functions, reservoir projects constructed and operated by the Corps of Engineers produce many collateral benefits. Of particular importance are the water supply benefits being realized generally from the civil works program. The Corps is now providing about 940,000 acre-feet of storage space in the interest of domestic and industrial water supply in 13 reservoirs serving approximately 30 cities and towns. Also, about 3,975,000 acre-feet of storage space is being utilized, either exclusively for irrigation, or jointly for irrigation and other purposes. In numerous cases, reservoirs operated for low-flow regulation in the interest of navigation and other purposes also provide incidental multiple benefits, such as adequate water supply at downstream locations, extensive pollution abatement, increased scope for recreation, and fish and wildlife enhancement along the streams involved. 9. In view of the continued drought conditions and below-normal stream flows that prevailed over most of central and southwestern United States during the earlier months of the fiscal year, Division and District Engineers were authorized to utilize, as an emergency measure, a portion of the flood control storage in reservoirs, where feasible, to provide water storage for conservation and low-flow regulations of streams. At many locations these emergency actions relieved deficient stream flow. On the Missouri River, for instance, releases of water from Fort Peck, Garrison, and Fort Randall Reservoirs augmented natural flows to sustain desirable depths downstream of projects for navigation, municipal water supply, and pollution abatement. Similarly, reservoirs in the Southwest were operated to furnish emergency water supply for municipal and industrial use where local storage and natural flows were inadequate. 10. While substantial progress is being made on construction of the authorized civil works program, it is quite evident that the demands of the country for water resource development are forging far ahead of the funds made available for carrying out this type of work. The $339 million appropriated for construction for fiscal year 1955 was not sufficient to keep pace with the increase in funds required to complete the active civil works program. The $700 million worth of new projects authorized by the River and Harbor and Flood Control Act approved 3 September 1954, has resulted in the current backlog of justified civil works improvements that require funds reaching a total of about $8.7 billion, as compared with $8 billion in fiscal year 1954 and only $400 million in 1927. This backlog will continue to rise unless a substantially higher level of appropriations is regularly maintained. 11. The investigation program of the Corps of Engineers, which provides the basis for sound development of the Nation's water resources, was continued to the extent consistent with the funds made available by Congress for that purpose. During the year, 55 reports on proposed improvements were transmitted to Congress. In addition, comprehensive basin reports of the New England-New York and the Arkansas-White-Red Inter-Agency Committees, in both of which studies the Corps of Engineers participated, were being processed prior to transmittal to the President and the Congress. 12. Sound business management efforts have been intensified a other effective steps taken during the year to produce increas efficiency and economy. These have included improved organizati and procedures and changes in working methods. One Divisi office was abolished, two district offices were reduced to the status area offices, and in another district 6 area offices were reduced to Also, civilian payroll handling was consolidated in a single distri in each division, mechanized accounting procedures introduced extended, and the activities of the supervisor, New York Harbo streamlined. These organizational changes effected economies est mated at $1,580,000 annually. Improvements in accounting, sta tistical, and administrative procedures placed in effect, includin streamlining and elimination of duplication in accounting and th results obtained from an intensified records disposal drive, produce economies estimated at $945,000 annually. Improvements in dredging efficiency produced savings upward of $1,000,000 annually. Thus total economy measures employed during the year brought abou annual savings aggregating over $3,500,000. 13. The Corps of Engineers participated extensively in various other activities pertaining to the development of national water resources policy. These include collaborating with the Presidential Advisory Committee on Water Resources Policy, the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government (Hoover Commission), and the Inter-Agency Committee on Water Resources. Still other activities engaging the attention of the Corps of Engineers during the year are: a. Developing regulations in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture, other agencies having a bona fide interest or responsibility, and the Bureau of the Budget, in developing methods for carrying out provisions of the Watershed Protection and Flood Control Act, Public Law 566, 83d Congress. b. Considerations on partnership proposals for development of hydroelectric power. c. Inter-Agency River Basin Committees for the Missouri, Columbia, and Arkansas-White-Red River Basins, and for the Pacific Southwest. d. Foreign technical assistance program sponsored by the Department of State and the International Cooperation Administration, which included the furnishing of dredges and other heavy construction equipment, the dispatch of qualified engineers and technicians employed by the Corps to overseas countries in consulting and advisory capacities, and the training at our installations of numerous foreign nationals in our successful methods and procedures. 14. While the matter of obtaining sufficient funds to meet the nation's needs for water resources development remains as one of our |