1.2.5 USACE

1.2.5 USACE

Dams in California are highly correlated with USACE’s work area as well as DWR. The Corps of Engineers is a well known group in developing engineering criteria for safe dams, and conducts an active inspection program of its own dams. The Corps has also carried out inspections at most of the dams built by Federal, State and local agencies and private interests. Information on these dams can be accessed through the National Inventory of Dams website, which is very useful. The data can be viewed as text, downloaded, or mapped using a free downloadable Geographic Information System (GIS) interface.

The Corps first got involved in water supply in the 1850s, when they built the aqueduct that still serves Washington, DC, and some of its suburbs in Northern Virginia. They continue to operate the aqueduct and the two water purification plants it feeds; the water then flows into local systems. Elsewhere in the Nation, a 1958 law allowed cities and industries to tap into Corps reservoirs to meet municipal and industrial water supply needs; and today our reservoirs supply water to nearly 10 million people in 115 cities. In the drier parts of the Nation, water from Corps reservoirs is also used for agriculture.

Reference: http://www.spk.usace.army.mil/index.html (USACE Sacramento District webpage)