The Commander of the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Tulsa County Drainage District 12 Levee Commissioner signed the Feasibility Cost Sharing Agreement for the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System Feasibility Study during the official signing ceremony at the Tulsa District headquarters, September 28. 

Col. Christopher A. Hussin, the Tulsa District Commander, and Todd Kilpatrick, Tulsa County Drainage District Levee Commissioner, signed the agreement.

“This agreement is an extension of the Corps of Engineers’ historical and continuing commitment to providing flood risk reduction solutions for our community, and our continued collaboration with Tulsa County Drainage District 12,” said Hussin. “The feasibility study marks the first steps in addressing our concerns about the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System. The Drainage District has already made progress in identifying potential solutions and we will take their data and recommendations into consideration.”

The cost sharing agreement states that the federal government has allocated $3 million to complete the study, which will examine alternatives to develop risk reduction measures for the Tulsa West Tulsa Levee System. The study will take two years to complete.

“We're excited to work with the Corps and assist them with finding solutions to the concerns we all have about the Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System,” said Kilpatrick. “A lot of work has gone into making this a reality and this is a good step in the process of protecting the people and businesses behind the Tulsa West Tulsa Levee."

President Donald J. Trump signed the Supplemental to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, on February 9, 2018 which appropriated the total cost of $3 million to conduct the Feasibility Study on the Tulsa West Tulsa Levee System, which impacts more than 20,000 Tulsa County residents and more than $2 billion infrastructure.

The Tulsa-West Tulsa Levee System was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1940s and turned over to the levee sponsor for operation and maintenance after construction was completed. The structure stretches approximately 20 miles along the along the Arkansas River.

The structure is divided into three portions. Inspections by the Corps of Engineers have resulted in classifications of Levee ‘A’ and Levee ‘B’ as “Very High Risk”, while Levee ‘C’ is classified as “High Risk” for overtopping and breach if Arkansas River flows exceed 330,000 cubic feet per second.

Levees reduce flood risk under appropriate circumstances but are not a guarantee of safety for residents or infrastructure behind them