North American has an estimated 100,000 miles of levees. Many of these levees were originally used to protect farmland, and are now protecting developed communities. The reliability of many of these levees is unknown and public safety could be at risk from these aging structures. If a community or levee owner wants the area behind a levee to be shown as reducing risk from the one-percent-annual-chance flood, they must first complete the process for having the levee certified by FEMA.

The responsibility for seeking levee certification is that of the local agency with jurisdiction over the floodplain in question. The local agency may perform the certification analysis with staff or consultants, or may request such technical determination by others.

This presentation will explore the inspection and evaluation of flood control levee systems and the certification process, with lessons learned along the way. This may be particularly beneficial to cities and towns that have levee systems but are not fully aware of the responsibilities related to their inspection and maintenance.

After viewing this program, participants will be better able to:

Determine FEMA requirements and the impact on their local agency
Employ the steps to get levee certification
Communicate the importance of good record keeping of maintenance and past projects

This program has been approved for .2 CEUs or 2 PDHs. Please note there is a $7 fee per non-member individual requesting CEUs - there is no fee for members.

Rachelle Lowe

Appearances