" $809,000 to correct the problem"
I don't buy it. There is no way a few million would be enough to build a proper levee system. This is tin-foil land with a political agenda. Levees fail no matter what. They just do.
You are right about that but that is NOT what we are talking about here!
The contractor putting in this levee (for millions) recognized the fact that the substrate (the material upon which the levee was to be built) was not sufficient to hold the weight to be placed upon it in several locations and so informed the Corp. of Engineers in writing of this fact. At the same time, the contractor requested a change order in the amount of $809,000 to correct the substrate problem before proceeding. (This $809,000 would have been in addition to the monies already in their contract for the job.)
The request for change order was denied and the levee was built on top of the known substandard substrate material!