During the fiscal year, construction was prosecuted on incomplete levees along the Sacramento, American, and Feather Rivers, and clearing of obstructions was accomplished in Butte Slough and Sutter bypasses.

FLOOD CONTROL OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Progress was made during the fiscal year 1945 on the floodcontrol project for the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River, 'adopted by the Flood Control Act approved May 15, 1928, and amended by the acts approved June 15, 1936, June 28, 1938, August 18, 1941, and December 22, 1944. The 1936 amendment retained the purpose of the 1928 act and the features completed under that authority, and authorized an additional $272,000,000 for extension of flood-control work on the lower Mississippi River. The 1938 amendment removed legislative restrictions with respect to certain features of the amended plan and authorized $40,000,000 for work in addition to that contemplated for the project as amended in 1936. The 1941 amendment provided for the abandonment of the Boeuf and Eudora floodways and extension and for raising main Mississippi River levees to confine within those levee lines between the mouths of the Arkansas and Red Rivers the project flood without a floodway west of the Mississippi River. That amendment also authorized certain minor modifications and backwater protection in the Yazoo and Red River backwater areas at an estimated additional cost of $25,982,000. The 1944 amendment modified the existing project to provide for a navigation channel 12 feet deep and 300 feet wide at low water between Cairo, Ill., and Baton Rouge, La., by the execution of a channel improvement and stabilization program at an estimated cost of $200,000,000, and also modified the project for flood protection in the backwater area of the Yazoo River to include additional work at an estimated cost of $1,952,000. The total authorization for the project as amended and supplemented is now $864,934,000. Of this amount $547,107,424 has been appropriated (including $30,000,000 for fiscal year 1945 made available by the War Department Civil Appropriation Act approved March 31, 1945).

In accordance with the provision of the act approved August 18, 1941, "that funds hereafter expended for maintenance shall not be considered as reducing present remaining balances of authorizations," it is estimated that $48,482,513 expended for maintenance since August 18, 1941, or scheduled for expenditure during fiscal year 1946, will not be deducted from the total authorizations for the project.

With the approval of the 1938 Flood Control Act, work in the Atchafalaya Basin which had not been initiated because of legal restrictions was freed from such restrictions and placed under way. Noteworthy progress had been made on these features, namely, the Morganza Floodway, the Wax Lake Outlet, the Charenton Drainage and Navigation Canal, and related works prior to the war and the stop order in 1942 which suspended practically all work in the Atchafalaya Basin. Urgent main river work has been prosecuted during the war and work on the tributary proj

ects for headwater protection of the St. Francis and Yazoo Rivers, including the construction of the Wappapello, Sardis, and Arkabutla Reservoirs, and backwater protection for the White River, had been pushed vigorously before the war within the limits of funds available for such work.

Under section 6 of the 1928 act, flood-control work was undertaken on the Mississippi River between Rock Island, Ill., and Cape Girardeau, Mo., and on outlets and tributaries affected by backwaters of the Mississippi River, wherever the local contributions of one-third of the costs were provided as required by law.

The Department was able to assist localities in the emergency repair of flood-control works on tributaries of the Mississippi River threatened or destroyed by flood, under the provisions of section 9 of the act approved June 15, 1936.

Work accomplished on the adopted project for the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River has demonstrated its effectiveness by affording unbroken protection for a period of 17 years to date. However, because of the elimination of the Eudora floodway by the Flood Control Act of 1941, the levee system which constitutes the major part of the project is not yet sufficiently complete to afford protection against predicted floods. Even a partial overflow of the valley may interrupt postal service, transcontinental and interstate commerce, and produce widespread destruction and disorder, national in scope. As flood control of this vast alluvial valley and navigation of the lower Mississippi River are important to the national economy and to the security of a large number of people, this project is being steadily prosecuted toward completion.

SURVEYS

During the year reports in response to 14 items of law enacted by Congress and resolutions adopted by congressional committees authorizing investigations of potential river and harbor and floodcontrol improvements were completed and transmitted to Congress with the recommendations of the Chief of Engineers. Of these investigations 1 was a preliminary examination and 2 were surveys prepared in response to authority contained in previously adopted river and harbor and flood-control acts, whereas 11 were reexaminations submitted in response to committee resolutions. Section 1 of the Flood Control Act approved December 22, 1944, and section 1 of the River and Harbor Act approved March 2, 1945, provide among other things that, in carrying out authorized investigations of works of improvement for navigation or flood control, the proposed reports of the Chief of Engineers thereon shall be transmitted to the affected States and, whenever the project is located in a western river basin, to the Department of the Interior. The submitted views and recommendations of the affected States and of the Secretary of the Interior are transmitted by the Secretary of War, together with the report of the Chief of Engineers, to the Congress.

The Beach Erosion and Shore Protection Boards carried out during the year studies and investigations in cooperation with appropriate agencies of various States and municipalities and with

the field offices of the Department to develop efficient works for the protection and stabilization of the shores and beaches of coastal and lake waters. Three cooperative studies and four informal departmental studies were completed during the year. Eleven cooperative studies and seven departmental studies were pending at the close of the year. Research on the subject of wave action and related phenomena was continued in the board's laboratory. In addition to the cooperative studies prosecuted during the year, the Beach Erosion Board has prepared studies and reports of a special nature for the Army and for the Navy. Three articles reporting the results of research were approved for publication. An act of Congress approved July 31, 1945, Public Law 166, Seventy-ninth Congress, authorized general shore-line investigations at Federal expense. That act also repealed the act of June 26, 1936, Public Law 834, Seventy-fourth Congress, and provides that the Beach Erosion Board, in making its report on any cooperative beach erosion study under the provisions of section 2 of the River and Harbor Act of July 3, 1930, state its opinion as to (a) the advisability of adopting the project; (b) what public interest, if any, is involved in the proposed improvement; and (c) what share of the expense, if any, should be borne by the United States.

The gathering of hydrological data in Nicaragua, under authority contained in the River and Harbor Act approved June 20, 1938, was continued.

The cooperative programs with the United States Weather Bureau and the Geological Survey for the purpose of more adequately meeting the requirements of the Department in the planning and operation of flood-control and river and harbor improvements were continued. Projects included in the cooperation with the Weather Bureau were: (a) Operation of a Nation-wide network of recording rain gages; (b) hydrometeorological investigations and review of the studies of major storms of record and the preparation of estimates of maximum possible precipitation for selected drainage basins; (c) organization of cooperative networks of reporting rainfall and river stations; and (d) development of the program for preparation of 48-hour quantitative forecasts of storm rainfall to facilitate the operation of reservoirs and local flood-protection projects. Cooperation with the Geological Survey involved primarily the installation, operation, and maintenance of stream-gaging stations for obtaining records of stream flow. The development of certain equipment for general stream gaging was continued.

MISCELLANEOUS CIVIL WORKS

Miscellaneous civil works have, as heretofore, been administered by the Corps of Engineers. These works are varied in character and include the administration of the Federal laws enacted for the protection and preservation of the navigable waters of the United States, which govern the following: Granting of permits for structures or operations in navigable waters; approval of the location and plans of bridges, dams, dikes, or causeways; altera

tion of obstructive bridges; investigation and removal of sunken vessels or other obstructions endangering navigation; establishment of regulations for the use, administration, and navigation of navigable waters, including drawbridge regulations; establishment of anchorage grounds, special anchorage areas, danger zones, dumping grounds, restricted areas, fishing areas, and harbor lines; investigations of the discharge or deposit of refuse matter of any kind in navigable waters; prevention of pollution of coastal navigable waters by oil; determination of the heads of navigation and the extent to which the laws shall apply to specific streams; supervision of the harbor of New York to prevent obstructive or injurious deposits in the tidal waters thereof, including the waters of Long Island Sound; establishment of reasonable rates of toll for transit across bridges over navigable waters; granting of permits for the occupation and use of Federal works under control of the Corps of Engineers; construction of Anacostia Park and the reclamation and development of Anacostia River and Flats, D. C.; maintenance and repair of the Washington Aqueduct, and increasing the water supply of the city of Washington; surveys and charting of the northern and northwestern lakes, including the Lake of the Woods; studies for the preservation of Niagara Falls and the supervision of power companies diverting water therefrom; reports of international boards on operations affecting international boundary waters; issuance of instruments authorizing the occupation of Government-owned land under the jurisdiction of the Department; and legislation in connection with the foregoing.

PROJECTS UNDER THE PUBLIC WORKS AND EMERGENCY

RELIEF PROGRAMS

As of June 30, 1944, allocation of funds to the following works and in the amounts indicated have been made available to the Corps of Engineers supplementing the allocations as published in detail in the Annual Report for the fiscal year 1939. The grand total of these amounts is $517,670,132.91.

672607-46-2

RIVERS AND HARBORS

Total allocations to river and harbor projects to June 30, 1944 (see annual report