Water Resources

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is required to develop a cost-sharing partnership with local sponsors of water projects that provide flood control, water supply, hydroelectric power, and recreation. The sponsors are generally local and state governments or other government groups, such as flood control districts or port authorities. GAO surveyed sponsors and found that the following three factors contributed most significantly to a successful relationship: (1) good communications between the Corps and the sponsor, (2) the sponsor's significant involvement in decisions and activities, and (3) the Corps' responses to the sponsor's concerns about cost-sharing agreements. Sponsors were concerned about their inability to pay their share of study or project costs. The inability to pay generally related to flood control/damage projects in the Dallas and Chicago regions. The sponsors' other main concern involved changes in the cost-sharing agreements at different Corps review levels.

GAo found that: (1) the factors that contributed to successful partnerships included good communications between the Corps and the local sponsor, the sponsor's active involvement in decision and meetings, and the Corps responding to sponsors' concerns about cost sharing; (2) sponsors' concerns about cost sharing related to the total cost of the study or project, their ability to pay their share of the costs, and changes in cost-sharing agreements; and (3) most of the sponsors' concerns about local cooperation agreements related to flood control projects in the Corps' Southwestern and North Central Divisions.