On Friday, October 8th, US Congressman Fred Keller led a group consisting of the three Lycoming County Commissioners, Williamsport’s mayor, and a number of other local officials along with representatives of the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to tour the Williamsport Levee. They were all there to do some heavy levee lifting.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) defines a levee as “a man-made structure, usually, an earthen embankment, designed and constructed in accordance with sound engineering practices to contain, control, or divert the flow of water to reduce risk from temporary flooding.” More than 22,000 communities in the United States participate in the NFIP by adopting and enforcing floodplain management ordinances to reduce future flood damage. In exchange, the NFIP offers federally backed flood insurance to homeowners, renters, and business owners in these communities.

Should a levee NOT meet the NFIP standards, this insurance cannot be offered. That is why issues with the Williamsport Levee brought together so many important government officials. The Corps of Engineers completed the 20-mile levee system along the Susquehanna River in Lycoming County in 1955. Fortunately, in the six and half-decades since that time, the levee has never been breached. This levee protects roughly 45 percent of Lycoming County’s workforce, 1,500 commercial, industrial, and institutional properties, and another 4,400 residential properties. The county planning office estimates that this represents anywhere between $3-$4 billion of real estate value. Quite simply, this region is the lifeblood of the entire area.

The bad news is that the levee has not been properly maintained in past decades, and that has to be addressed because the levee is due for recertification and accreditation. It will take some work to get there, which has been a joint project between Lycoming County and the City of Williamsport, Armstrong Township, DuBoistown Borough, South Williamsport Borough, Loyalsock Township, and Old Lycoming Township. Considering the economic impact to these communities, as well as the region as a whole, makes decertification something that simply cannot be allowed to happen.

Which is why Congressman Keller wanted to get all these entities together to ensure that they all were on the same page, that the Federal agencies of FEMA and the Corps of Engineers are on the same page with the local authorities, and that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania officials are also in the loop. There are a lot of moving parts, and any one of them can jam up the works.

The critical component is the US Army Corps of Engineers. It was a great benefit that among the guests was Colonel Estee Pinchasin, Army Corps of Engineers, director for the Baltimore District, which covers Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York. Everyone at the meeting that I spoke to had high praise for Colonel Pinchasin because she grasped the project and the problems better than anyone. She confirmed to me that the Corps was going to undertake an 18-month risk assessment of the system, which would then provide the blueprint for action that would lead to FEMA certification.

It has taken a lot of people and a lot of work to get to this point, and if the game plan is followed, the levee will be protecting our region from floods for many, many years to come. And that will be good news for us all.