The battle for flood protection

During the late spring and recent flooding, the federally sponsored project known as the Mississippi River & Tributaries project prevented an estimated $108 billion in damages throughout the Mississippi River Valley. Beyond its flood protection, the MR&T provides benefits crucial to throughout the Mississippi Delta region, including stable drinking water supplies, food production, power generation, navigation and commerce, economic development and recreation.

The flood of 2011 was a historical flood that exceeded most records for gauge readings and volumes of water -- surpassing the 1927 and 1937 floods. Because of the wisdom and foresight of Congress, the president and local citizens, the nation constructed and maintained flood control through the MR&T project, the massive 2011 flood was carried in the valley without the loss of human life. There was not a single unintended overtopping or crevassing of the mainline levee and not one acre was flooded that was designed not to be flooded. Floodways, spillways and backwater areas all helped distribute the water in the center of the country. All this was possible because the Flood Control Act, MR&T project was authorized by Congress in 1928, performed as designed, and even though only 89 percent completed it protected the lives of more than 4 million citizens that live and work in the 35,000 square miles of some of the most productive land in our country.

Commissioned and constructed in the years after the Great Flood of 1927 by the Mississippi River Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the MR&T is a system of levees, floodways and backwater areas along with other flood control features from Cape Girardeau to the Gulf of Mexico. It stands as one of the most successful civil works projects our nation has ever produced. The MR&T has saved lives, communities and billions of dollars in property damage. Allowing people to live and work throughout a 35,000 square mile area in seven states, the MR&T protects more than $200 billion worth of assets.

Those who agitate for alternatives to the MR&T want us to abandon much of the Mississippi River Delta region. They see our recent crisis as a way to advance their agenda of preventing the repair of our levees and enhancing flood protection so they can accomplish their dream of reverting much of the region back into the vast swampland it was in the early 1800s. They forget that agriculture in the this part of the country is an economic engine responsible for thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in corn, soybean, rice and cotton production, which feeds and clothes our country and the world. Taking the world's most productive farmland out of production is simply not a smart option. Industries and navigation on the river support thousands of additional jobs and economic development providing much of the products we use everyday and the means of transporting them efficiently, thereby keeping the prices we pay affordable.

This system has never failed and it didn't fail this time. The foundation of flood control in the Lower Mississippi River Valley is sound. However, it is critical that the flood protection measures get the maintenance and improvements needed. Since the MR&T is not yet complete, federal investment is necessary to provide the Delta region better protection. We may sometimes go years without thinking about it, but when the water rises again, and it will, those levees will be there, as long as we maintain them.

As the waters of the 2011 flood continue to recede, the resulting devastation is painfully apparent. The Mississippi River watershed drains everything from the Appalachians to the Rockies, from New York to Montana and it all funnels right past our doorstep and down to the Gulf of Mexico. Thousands were displaced from their homes, most, if not all, in unprotected areas. Millions of acres of farmland were inundated and many communities will take months, if not years, to resume normal life. We should continue to pray for and help our neighbors in need. Meanwhile, we must repair the damages quickly. We hope Congress will move without delay to provide this necessary funding. Otherwise, we may incur a disaster with the next high-water season, costing the federal taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in disaster relief and recovery.

George Grugett is executive vice president of the Mississippi Valley Flood Control Association. Based in Germantown, Tenn., the 76-year-old organization represents levee and drainage districts, port authorities, communities and numerous others who advocate for the flood control, bank stabilization, navigation and drainage issues facing the Mississippi Valley.