Congressional awareness of issues associated with locally owned and operated levees is increasing, largely because of the nationwide remapping of floodplains by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and efforts to reauthorize the FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) which expires on September 30, 2011. Floodplain remapping can result in owners of mortgaged structures located in areas protected by levees being required to purchase flood insurance if the levees cannot satisfy FEMA's levee accreditation requirements. Many communities and levee owners struggle with the expense and effort of data collection, repairs, and improvements needed to obtain levee accreditation and have approached Congress for assistance. Multiple federal agencies have roles in levee accreditation and federal levee assistance. Most notably, FEMA coordinates updates to Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRM) and issues levee accreditations that waive the mandatory purchase requirement for homeowners who reside in areas protected by levees. In certain limited situations discussed later in this report, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) may certify the data submitted to FEMA for accreditation purposes. However, existing federal actions to assist locally operated levees are limited, particularly in the scope of eligible activities. Limitations stem from constraints on federal funding and from levee operation, maintenance, and improvements generally being the responsibility of the levee owner. Levees are structures, either earthen embankments or concrete and steel floodwalls, built along rivers, or other bodies of water, to prevent water from flooding bordering land. Levees are located throughout the country and are found in approximately 22% of U.S. counties, where almost half of the U.S. population resides. Nationally, average economic damage from floods in leveed areas ranges between $5 billion and $10 billion annually. The full extent and specific conditions of the nation's levees are unknown, but the National Committee on Levee Safety, which was created by Congress, estimates that more than 100,000 miles of levees may exist. The federal government through the Corps built less than 15,000 miles of these levees. The Corps operates roughly 2,100 miles of the 15,000 it constructed. That is, local levee owners operate and maintain the estimated 85,000 miles of locally constructed levees and almost 13,000 miles of Corps constructed levees. One estimate puts the five-year level of investment for new construction or maintenance needed for the nation's existing levees at $50 billion. Congress has considered in recent years whether and how to change the current division of levee responsibilities and their costs, and whether to modify existing levee-related federal programs. Some stakeholders seek to expand flood hazard mitigation activities eligible for federal funds to include levees, while others are concerned that the federal government might assume more of the costs and liability for levee investments that they consider a local responsibility. Another aspect of the debate is whether to change FEMA's risk assessment, remapping, and timelines for obtaining levee accreditation. These changes are raised in the context of climate change and a broader rethinking of flood risk management and control structures (like levees) following Hurricane Katrina and recent floods. This report covers the federal role in locally operated levees. It does not address federally owned and operated levees, which are less common and are concentrated in a few areas of the United States (e.g., along the Mississippi River). The report first discusses the role of levees in flood risk reduction, the shared responsibilities for levees in the United States, and the role of three agencies: FEMA, the Corps, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Next, it discusses federal assistance for levees starting with their study and construction, then levee-related flood fighting and levee repair, rehabilitation, and inspection. It also describes the debate about whether levees investments have a role in federal flood mitigation programs. Corps, FEMA, and NRCS activities and authorities are compared. Finally, the report outlines policy options for locally operated levees that might be considered by the 112 th Congress. Legislative proposals in the 111 th Congress are discussed in an Appendix . In the United States, flood-related roles and responsibilities are distributed within a regulatory framework designed to permit the responsible development of the nation's floodplains. Local governments generally are responsible for land use and zoning decisions that shape floodplain and coastal development, but the federal and state governments also influence decisions on managing flood risk. State and local governments make decisions that allow or prohibit development in flood-prone areas. Local, private, and sometimes state entities construct, operate, and maintain most levees and have initial flood-fighting responsibilities. Agencies of the federal government operate flood control dams, offer crop insurance, support hazard mitigation, and provide emergency response and disaster aid for recovery from floods. The federal government constructs some of the nation's levees, but most often does in partnership with local project sponsors who are responsible for operation and maintenance. No federal program specifically regulates the design, placement, construction, or maintenance of nonfederal levees. While federal and state agencies often have their own policies and criteria for levee design, construction, and maintenance, there are no national engineering standards or policies for levee design or level-of-protection standards for different floodplain uses. Many levees protecting today's communities and agricultural investments originally were constructed more than 50 years ago by local interests reclaiming land for agriculture and other uses. Rather than each landowner building separate levees, landowners often consolidated their resources by forming a levee district. As a consequence of this history, many of today's physical constructions and configurations, as well as institutional arrangements for flood protection, have roots distinct from their current use as flood protection for development. For the most part, municipalities serving concentrated urban populations have assumed flood control responsibilities, while special levee districts remain active in rural and agricultural areas. Prior to the Lower Mississippi River Flood of 1927, the federal role in flood control was limited. In addition to authorizing the Corps to design and construct significant flood control projects along the Mississippi River (and on the Sacramento River (CA)), the Flood Control Act of 1928 reiterated the sense of Congress, at the insistence of President Coolidge, that there should be local contribution toward flood control works. The act also provided that the federal government generally could not be held liable for flood damage. From 1928 to 1936, there was considerable debate about the need for national planning for flood control and a national water resources program, and the proper roles of Congress and the Executive Branch in this planning and selection of construction projects. The Flood Control Act of 1936 (49 Stat. 1570) declared some flood control a "proper" federal activity: It is hereby recognized that destructive floods upon the rivers of the United States, upsetting orderly processes and causing loss of life and property, including the erosion of lands and impairing and obstructing navigation, highways, railroads, and other channels of commerce between the States, constitute a menace to national welfare; that it is the sense of Congress that flood control on navigational waters or their tributaries is a proper activity of the Federal Government in cooperation with States, their political sub-divisions and localities thereof; that investigations and improvements of rivers and other waterways, including watersheds thereof, for flood-control purposes are in the interest of the general welfare; that the Federal Government should improve or participate in the improvement of navigable waters or their tributaries including watersheds thereof, for flood-control purposes if the benefits to whomsoever they may accrue are in excess of the estimated costs, and if the lives and social security of people are otherwise adversely affected. Since 1936, Congress has authorized the Corps to construct hundreds of miles of levees. Today the federal role in flood risk management goes beyond assisting with the construction of dams and levees. For instance, some federal actions attempt to modify individual and community behavior to reduce flood vulnerability; the NFIP and FEMA's hazard mitigation programs are examples. Congress established the NFIP with the 1968 passage of the National Flood Insurance Act. Prior to the program's establishment the federal government relied on a "levee-only" policy that permitted unrestricted development of the floodplains along with an emphasis on structural flood control systems. Making federally subsidized flood insurance available to property owners signaled a shift in federal policy towards a flood control strategy that was less dependent on structural measures. The new policy had the intended consequence of regulating the development of flood-prone areas. The NFIP's multi-pronged regulatory system consists of flood risk assessment and mapping, flood insurance, and land use and building construction measures that restricted development in vulnerable areas. The NFIP allows for residential construction in known floodplains, with the proviso that construction must follow building code regulations that include flood-proofing requirements. FEMA's hazard mitigation programs fund mitigation activities such as elevating properties, acquiring properties and converting them to open space, retrofitting buildings, and implementing limited flood control systems. Federal agencies play various roles in planning, construction, maintenance and operation, repair and rehabilitation of levees and related flood insurance and mapping. Three agencies are authorized to provide federal assistance for locally owned or maintained levees—FEMA, Corps, and NRCS. FEMA has responsibility for NFIP flood risk assessment, mapping, and levee accreditation. The Corps performs some levee construction and damage repair and has the largest federal appropriations for these activities. NRCS provides some funds for repair of damaged levees through its Small Watershed Program. The levee-related roles of the three agencies are discussed below and in Table 1 . FEMA is responsible for flood risk assessment and mapping, flood insurance, and federal hazard mitigation.