- Wood River Drainage and Levee District
       - Wood River Levee Underseepage adjacent to Melvin Price
- Metro East Sanitary District
- Chain of Rocks Levee
- Prairie du Pont Levee and Sanitary District and Fish Lake Drainage and Levee District

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Both historical and recent engineering investigation shows the levees are not performing as well as they should.  With each flood event we have seen greater underseepage and sand boiling at earlier, lower river stages.  This indicates progressive subsurface deterioration.  Recent new data also tells us subsurface soil conditions are inferior to what we historically thought.

How best to restore them to provide adequate protection is the question that faces many in the region, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The levees suffer from two related issues: aging and design deficiencies.

They were built more than half a century ago.  Though they have also successfully fended off several floods, like old cars they need more and more maintenance and even overhauls in places.          

Concerning design deficiencies, they were built using the best engineering and science available at the end of World War II.  If we were building them today, we would build them differently and better.  Primarily, we would incorporate better defenses against water underseepage
Soil investigations include borings and tests every 330 feet on both sides of the levees for 63-plus miles.  Results reconfirm that certain stretches of the levees are not as secure as they should be.