From Sacramento News & Review – Across California, nearly 14,000 miles of levees stand between flood waters and residents, and anxious emergency managers plan for their failure, because levees were designed and built to reclaim floodplains for agriculture. It is only with population growth that levees have taken on a role for which they weren’t designed. California has a long history of federal partnership in levee construction for reclamation. The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintains oversight, while most are managed locally. Annual federal allocations provide the bulk of funds for repairs, but the state and municipalities typically fund 25%. (more)