Ideker, USACE’s new Guidance, And Figuring Out How To Do An Induced Flooding Analysis

August 25, 2025

On July 28, 2025, the Director of Civil Works for the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Eddie Belk, issued guidance for analyzing induced flooding. This guidance is intended to help USACE Districts and Divisions in managing an analysis of induced flooding in planning studies (and those projects under design or construction) as a result of “recent court decisions on the takings implications of induced flooding.” USACE has now concluded that “it should not be assumed, in lieu of a takings analysis, that takings will not result merely because any induced flooding will be slight, or because the induced flooding is temporary or intermittent in nature.”