California levees to get a wave of cash

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By DEB KOLLARS AND MATT WEISER
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The levee system crisscrossing Sacramento and the Central Valley received the biggest financial boost in its long and rickety history when California voters said yes to a $4.1 billion bond measure to strengthen flood control.

The huge infusion of cash should go a long way toward providing more safety to people living behind levees, including residents of Natomas, West Sacramento, the Greenhaven-Pocket neighborhood and other areas of the Sacramento region.

And it is expected to bring a greater level of security to the levee system running through the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, where the potential combination of an earthquake and crumbling levees could threaten the water supply of millions of Californians.

Known as Proposition 1E, the measure was approved Tuesday by 64 percent of voters statewide. Coupled with another $800 million in flood control dollars that will flow from Proposition 84, a water-related bond measure, it means nearly $5 billion in state funds will be available for flood safety work.

"It's probably the largest investment for flood control ever _ something that's been sorely needed for a long time," said Les Harder, deputy director of the state Department of Water Resources. "It was gratifying to see that people across the state recognize the dire need."

Raymond Seed, a civil engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said the bond's passage offers California a rare opportunity to attack its flood problems comprehensively.

"No one's ever tackled so complex an issue so broadly," Seed said.

Harder said one of the first spending priorities will be a scientific evaluation of 1,600 miles of Central Valley levees to get a grip on under-seepage and earthquake risk. The work will include drilling at least 15 soil borings per mile of levee.

Such a comprehensive levee review has never been done. It is essential for pinpointing the risks and planning for repairs that will last, Harder said.

In the meantime, a portion of the bond funds will be spent on maintenance of those levees until solutions are devised.

Bond money also will be used to pay the state's share of upgrades to Folsom Dam, Harder said. This work, which will cost more than $1 billion, is expected to help double Sacramento's flood protection by raising the dam and adding a spillway, which will enable the dam to handle more water.

Sacramento officials were glad to hear it. No major city in America is at greater risk of a New Orleans-style disaster. Sitting at the confluence of two temperamental rivers _ the American and the Sacramento _ the city currently has less than 100-year flood protection in some areas, putting nearly a half-million people at risk.

"This was wonderful news," said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo. "1E is huge for Sacramento."