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High Water at HomeCh. 3 · The Wharton flood-protection project
Part I · Water in the yardGround to 6 inches

Chapter 3

The Wharton flood-protection project

The questionWill the new levee keep my house from flooding, and when will it be done?

The short answerThe Wharton levee project is a federal Corps of Engineers plan to wall off part of the city from the Colorado River, and it is built to lower flood risk, not to end it.

By the editors of High Water at Home · Updated · about 6 minutes

The Colorado River at Wharton seen under a highway bridge, with a sandbar and green wooded banks
Figure 3.1 The Colorado River runs right past the town, which is why Wharton has worked for years on flood protection.
Sections in this chapter
  1. 3.1 What is the Wharton levee project?
  2. 3.2 Where did the work stand on 11 Nov 2026?
  3. 3.3 Will the levee stop Wharton from flooding?
  4. 3.4 Does the levee change your flood zone or insurance?
  5. 3.5 Will the levee push water onto someone else?
  6. 3.6 What does the levee mean for your pipes and drains?
  7. 3.7 Where can you follow the project?

3.1 What is the Wharton levee project?

It is the Wharton piece of the first phase of the Corps of Engineers' Lower Colorado River Basin project. The City of Wharton's levee project page describes it as about 35,600 feet of levees, 2,300 feet of floodwalls, 7,000 feet of channel changes, and drainage features inside the levee line. The same page says the money is federal, through Public Law 115-123, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, signed on 9 February 2018.

The Corps split the work into three parts: Colorado River Phase 1, Colorado River Phase 2 and Baughman Slough. Each has its own design and schedule.

3.2 Where did the work stand on 11 Nov 2026?

The newest dated public status found was the Phase 1 groundbreaking on 29 Nov 2023. Table 3.1 lists the milestones with the date each source gives. This book found no notice that Phase 1 is complete as of 11 Nov 2026, so the City of Wharton or the Corps is the place to learn where things stand now.

Table 3.1 Wharton levee milestones, as the city and Corps published them
DateMilestonePublished by
2013City builds the first Santa Fe outfall embankmentU.S. Army article, 21 Mar 2023
2017, 2019, 2020Outfall damaged by Harvey and two later rain eventsU.S. Army article, 21 Mar 2023
9 Nov 2022Santa Fe Ditch outfall repair finished, ribbon cutDVIDS, 16 Mar 2023
29 Nov 2023Colorado River Levee Phase 1 groundbreakingDVIDS, posted 11 Dec 2023
2028Whole project expected complete (a 2023 expectation)DVIDS, 16 Mar 2023

The Santa Fe repair cost $5.1 million and was the first of four parts, the Corps wrote in its March 2023 account of the ribbon cutting. The city had spent $48,000 on emergency outfall repairs in 2020, the Army's March 2023 article says. A 2022 Corps slide put Phase 2 and Baughman Slough construction at spring 2024 to spring 2026, "pending funding"; later events overtook that schedule, so do not read it as current.

A green steel truss bridge over the Colorado River at Wharton, seen past a concrete bridge railing
Figure 3.2 The 1929 river bridge at Wharton, now closed to cars.

3.3 Will the levee stop Wharton from flooding?

No, and the Corps says so plainly. In its answers on the city page, the Corps writes that the levee system will not prevent 100 percent of flooding, and that in a Harvey-size event part of the city would still flood, at a lower level. Its April 2022 presentation adds that Colorado River levee reaches 1 to 4 will not give the city 1-percent-annual-chance, or 100-year, protection on their own. A future extension of Reach 1 across Caney Creek near Glen Flora is needed for that.

Then there is rain. A levee keeps the river out, but rain that falls inside it still has to drain through ditches, outfalls and sumps. That is why the plan includes interior drainage, and why rain flooding can still put water in streets behind a levee.

3.4 Does the levee change your flood zone or insurance?

Not by itself. Nothing reviewed for this chapter says FEMA will redraw Wharton's flood map because of the levee. The city and county maps in force on 11 Nov 2026 took effect 12/21/2017, as the flood map chapter explains. Until FEMA issues a new map, your zone, your lender's rules and your flood policy stay as they are. Keep the policy; the insurance chapter explains why it pays to have it in force well ahead of a storm.

3.5 Will the levee push water onto someone else?

The Corps says its design does not funnel floodwater onto other land. In the city's question list, it says the work "actually reduces the flood water passing through Caney Creek and nearby tributaries." That is the Corps' own statement about its design; the city page carries no date for it.

3.6 What does the levee mean for your pipes and drains?

For most houses, the plumbing advice in this book does not change. The levee lowers the odds and the depth of river water in parts of the city, but it does nothing for a sewer that backs up in a cloudburst, a wellhead in rice country outside the line, or a septic field in soaked ground. Keep a backwater valve in mind if your drains have backed up before, and know where your water shutoff is.

3.7 Where can you follow the project?

Follow it on the City of Wharton's levee page, which posts updates and the Corps' answers, and through Corps news on DVIDS, such as the Phase 1 groundbreaking video. City council meetings also take up right-of-way and funding steps. Ask the city before you buy, build or raise a house near the planned levee line, because right-of-way can affect what you may do with that land.

Questions readers ask

When will the Wharton levee be finished?

No completion date was published as of 11 Nov 2026. In 2023 the Corps said it expected the whole project to be complete in 2028; that was an expectation, not a promise, and it may change with funding.

Will my flood insurance get cheaper once the levee is built?

Not automatically. Premiums follow the FEMA map and your policy terms, and no source reviewed here says the map will change because of the levee.

Does the levee cover El Campo or East Bernard?

The Corps describes this element as Wharton's. The project pages do not describe works for El Campo or East Bernard.

Is the Santa Fe ditch part of the levee project?

Yes. The Santa Fe Ditch outfall repair, finished on 9 Nov 2022, was the first of the project's four parts. In a downpour that ditch handles runoff from roughly a fourth of the town.

Who pays for the levee?

The city page says the project is federally funded through the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. It names the city as the local body that buys right-of-way for the Corps.

What this chapter rests on

This chapter draws on the City of Wharton's levee page and its Corps answers (undated, written around 2018 to 2019), a Corps presentation of 19 April 2022, and Corps and Army news dated 2023. This book could not confirm the project's current schedule from the Corps district's own pages; ask the City of Wharton or the Corps. Schedules here are dated as their sources gave them and may have moved since.

Notes to chapter 3

  1. City of Wharton — Wharton Flood Reduction Project, Levee · project size, funding law, Corps answers on flooding, funneling and right-of-way · checked 11 Nov 2026
  2. USACE — City of Wharton Levee Lunch and Learn, 19 April 2022 · reaches 1–4 and 100-year protection, Glen Flora extension, 2022 schedule · checked 11 Nov 2026
  3. DVIDS — USACE multi-verse converges on Texas town to complete first phase of flood risk mitigation project · Santa Fe outfall repair, cost, 2028 expectation · checked 11 Nov 2026
  4. DVIDS — Galveston District and City of Wharton kick off Colorado River Levee Project Phase 1 · Phase 1 groundbreaking, 29 Nov 2023 · checked 11 Nov 2026
  5. U.S. Army — Corps of Engineers work to mitigate flood risk for Wharton, Texas · outfall history, 2020 emergency repairs · checked 11 Nov 2026
  6. FEMA — Community Status Book Report, Texas · current map dates · checked 11 Nov 2026