History

• The first levees on the Mississippi formed naturally and were only 3 to 7 feet tall. The first man-made levee was built in 1717 outside of New Orleans and was followed by several other attempts at levee-building by local property owners. After a large flood in the early 19th century, management of the levee system was taken over by the Army Corps of Engineers.
  
  

Management

• In the late 19th century, the state of Louisiana established several levee districts, which were local organizations responsible for operating and maintaining the levees, embankments, seawalls, jetties, breakwaters and flood basins. The district and the Army Corps of Engineers share the costs.
  
  

Complications

• The levee districts do not always do a good job of maintaining the levees; they claim this is due to a lack of financial support from the Army Corps of Engineers. Disputes sometimes arise concerning the balance of responsibility between the local and the national stakeholders, and concerning which levees belong to the federal system.
  
  

Solution

• Some legislators have proposed that the Army Corps of Engineers reclaim full responsibility for the maintenance of a broader number of levees. For example, U.S. representative Rodney Alexander filed legislation requiring them to assume repairs for the entire Tensas Basis Levee System in northeast Louisiana. This would reduce the financial obligations of property owners near the levees.