USACE repairing levee systems in Arizona

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District is working with the Flood Control District of Maricopa County, Arizona, to repair five levee systems using the Public Law 84-99 Rehabilitation and Inspection Program.

Under the program, USACE is authorized to supplement local efforts to repair levees and channels that are damaged due to flooding and other natural events.

“The federal channels in Maricopa County were damaged due to a storm event,” said David Kingston, chief of the LA District’s Emergency Management Branch. “Because Maricopa County maintained these channels to standard and kept them in an active status in the Corps’ Rehabilitation and Inspection Program, we are able to execute the repairs with 100 percent federal funds.”

Work is currently underway in the New River Dam outlet channel in Peoria.

Victoria Jurado, a geologist with the LA District, visited the site Sept. 28-29 to evaluate the subgrade [foundation] of the channel repairs.

“The next step would be the lifts,” Jurado said, as she described the project. “Lifts are the fill material – that meets specification – added in 8-inch lifts and tested to ensure 90-percent compaction.”

Jurado went on to describe how the sides of the channel are built using a stair-step fashion and covered with a geo-fabric to keep finer parts of the packed fill from washing away. Riprap is then added, which acts like armor protecting the levees, to complete repairs to 816 feet of the 1,000-foot channel.

“The LA District has one of the largest PL 84-99 rehabilitation programs in the nation,” said Mark Cohen, chief of the LA District’s Operations Division. “Our work with Maricopa County is a great example of how the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leverages world-class engineering skills to address the infrastructure needs of local communities.”