3 Quotes by Joseph L. Arnold

Nevertheless, the decisive step toward a remarkably sophisticated and imaginative flood plain management program was taken with the Flood Control Act of 1936,though few who supported it could possibly have foreseen where it would eventually lead. It speaks well of our political process that this emergency-born and single-minded flood control act has been gradually merged with rivers and harbors legislation to form the basis of a very successful multi-purpose water resources program.

Since1936, Congress has authorized the Corps of Engineers to construct hundreds of miles of levees, flood walls, and channel improvements and approximately 375 major reservoirs. These remarkable engineering projects today comprise one of the largest single additions to the nation’s physical plant - rivaled only by the highway system.

Despite the long history of severe flooding by the nation’s rivers in the 19th century, Congress passed no legislation that was directly and openly aimed at flood control until 1917 and undertook no nationwide flood control program until 1936.