The Flood Control Act of 1936, , (FCA 1936) was an Act of the United States Congress signed into law by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

on 22 June 1936.EP 870-1-29, The Evolution of the Flood Control Act of 1936, Joseph L. Arnold, United States Army Corps of Engineers, 1988
It authorized

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

projects such as dams,

levee A levee (), dike (American English), dyke (Commonwealth English), embankment, floodbank, or stop bank is a structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain or along low-lying coastli ...

s, dikes, and other

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

measures through the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

and other Federal agencies. It is one of a number of Flood Control Acts passed on a regular basis by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

. FCA 1936 was introduced in Congress by

Riley J. Wilson Riley Joseph Wilson (November 12, 1871 – February 23, 1946) was a Louisiana educator, attorney and legislator in the first half of the late 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century. A Democrat, Wilson served in the United States ...

(D, LA). FCA 1936 dictated that Federal investigations and improvements of rivers and other waterways for flood control and allied purposes shall be under the jurisdiction of the War Department (precursor of the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philipp ...

) under the supervision of the

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. It further put watersheds, waterflow retardation, and

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, a ...

prevention under the

U.S. Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...

. Further, those authorities were not to interfere with reclamation projects by the

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...

of the Interior Department. FCA 1936 was part of the profusion of important Depression Era legislation enacted by the

74th Congress The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1935, ...

in 1935–1936, including the

Social Security Act The Social Security Act of 1935 is a law enacted by the 74th United States Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The law created the Social Security program as well as insurance against unemployment. The law w ...

, the

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...

, the

Banking Act of 1935 The ''Banking Act of 1935'' passed on August 19, 1935 and was signed into law by the president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, on August 23. The Act changed the structure and power distribution in the Federal Reserve System that began with the ''Banking ...

, the Wealth Tax Act, the

Public Utility Holding Company Act The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA), also known as the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, was a US federal law giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to regulate, license, and break up electric utility holding companies. It ...

, the

Rural Electrification Act The Rural Electrification Act of 1936, enacted on May 20, 1936, provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural areas of the United States. The funding was channeled through cooperative ele ...

, the Soil Conservation Service Act, and the $4.8 billion

Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 The Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 was passed on April 8, 1935, as a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. It was a large public works program that included the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works Administration (PWA), ...

Significance

According to Joseph Arnold, author of ''The Evolution of the Flood Control Act of 1936'', FCA 1936 declared that flood control was a national priority since floods constituted a menace to the national welfare.

Authorization

FCA 1936 authorized the expenditure of $310 million for flood control projects with no more than $50 million being expended in fiscal year 1937. Expenditure was conditioned on local interests participating by providing all lands, easements, and rights-of-way necessary for the construction of the projects, local interests holding and saving the Federal Government free from damages due to the construction works, and that local interests maintain and operate the projects after completion.Laws of the United States Relating To the Improvement of Rivers and Harbors From August 11, 1790 To January 2, 1939, 3 vols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1940), 32404-07, and 2438-39.

Projects covered by the Act

Dams

* Kinzua Dam (begun in 1960, completed in 1965) * Optima Lake Dam (begun in 1966, completed in 1978) * others

Levees

*Mississippi River Levee near between

Baton Rouge, LA Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of counties i ...

and

New Orleans, LA New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Flood Control Act *

Flood Control Act of 1937 The Flood Control Act of 1937 (FCA 1937) was an Act of Congress, Act of the United States Congress signed into law by President of the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt on August 28, 1937, as Public Law 406. The act was a response to ...

- follow-on legislation *

Water Resources Development Act Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), is a reference to public laws enacted by Congress to deal with various aspects of water resources: environmental, structural, navigational, flood protection, hydrology, etc. Typically, the United States Arm ...

Rivers and Harbors Act Rivers and Harbors Act may refer to one of many pieces of legislation and appropriations passed by the United States Congress since the first such legislation in 1824. At that time Congress appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio and ...

References

{{reflist 1936 in the environment 1936 in law

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...