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Learn-Assess flood control projects, with the Corps receiving major responsibilities for main stem and downstream projects. The Soil Conservation Service was later assigned responsibility for flood protection on upstream watersheds. TIris act established the condition that federal involvement in flood control would be appropriate if the benefits, to whomsoever they may accrue, are in excess of the estimated costs and if the lives and social security of the people are otherwise adversely affected." For 50 years this phrase has been the basis of efforts to analyze the benefits and costs of water resources projects. In addition to the Corps and the Soil Conservation Service, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Tennessee Valley Authority are involved in the construction of flood damage reduction structures. The Bureau of Reclamation has planned and constructed many large irrigation and hydropower reservoir projects in the western United States that also provide flood control, including Grand Coulee Dam, the Central Valley Project, and Hoover Dam. The Tennessee Valley Authority has played a role in flood control since its creation in 1933; two of its statutory purposes are to improve navigation in the Tennessee River and to control destructive flood waters in the Tennessee River and Mississippi River Basin. " Between 1936 and 1975 the federal government spent about $13 billion for dams and other structures. A few of the first flood control projects were financed 100% by the federal government, although most required the contribution ofland, easements, and rights of way by state and local governments and maintenance of the project after it was completed. Today, however, state and local governments and private sponsors are required to share the costs of practically all flood control projects. Page 11 of36