International Partners

The mission of the International Partnerships Program is to establish and maintain fruitful relationships with governments and other organizations internationally to encourage information exchange, cooperation, and collaboration on improving approaches and techniques that can achieve flood risk reduction.

The list below highlights recent collaborative initiatives and exchanges:

International Levee Handbook Development
A consortium of professionals from six participating countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, France and the United States are coordinating development of an International Levee Handbook. The primary intent is to learn from one another's experiences and share in the effort of producing a best practices resource. The team has identified the need for a new comprehensive guidance handbook, written by experts and practitioners, to enable mutual lesson learning among the participating countries in the project consortium. Work is currently ongoing and is expected to be completed in 2013.
Dutch Rijkswaterstaat Partnership Meeting
Senior dam and levee safety managers and USACE subject matter experts met with counterparts from the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat December 10-14, 2012 in Dallas and Ft. Worth, Texas. The team visited the Dallas Trinity levee system and spoke with sponsors from the Central City Project in Ft. Worth. Topics covered included risk assessment, risk communication, research and development, and staff exchange. An employee of the Dutch Rijkswaterstaat will be joining the USACE Risk Management Center in Lakewood, Colorado, for a year-long technical exchange beginning February 2013.
Technical Exchange Meeting with Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism
Representatives from the Corps of Engineers and Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) met in Portland, Oregon, on 28-30 November 2012 for the 8th annual meeting in an ongoing technical exchange program between the two agencies. The US delegation shared views and experiences with a group of engineers and other professionals from MLIT's Water Management and Disaster Management Bureau, the Japan Institute for Construction Engineering (JICE), the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI), and the International Center for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM). The meeting was devoted to discussion of four major topics: Effective Use of Existing Structures, Flood Risk Management Including Measures in the Floodplain, Economic Evaluation of Flood Risk Management, and International Standard for Risk or Vulnerability Indices. The meeting included a special brief on the Corps role in responding to Hurricane Sandy. The Corps also hosted field visits to the Bonneville Dam complex on the Columbia River, and to the St. Helens Sediment Retention Structure in southwest Washington.