The Newspaper of the San Francisco Bay Chapter
Jan - Feb 2006
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| CONSERVATION NEWS |
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Delta levees and flooding
The flooding in New Orleans has reminded Californians of the deteriorating condition of the 1,600 miles of levees in Northern California's Delta, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers meet and flow into the San Francisco Bay. Much of the development in the Delta is happening in areas susceptible to flooding. An earthquake or heavy winter storms could cause levees to rupture, threatening neighborhoods near rivers - and the delivery of drinking water to much of the Bay Area, as well as through the State Water Project to 23 million people in Southern California.
Other events from the past year have put the state on notice that something must be done to reduce the Central Valley's flood risks. First, the state Supreme Court declared in the Paterno decision, stemming from a 1986 levee break that inundated homes in Yuba County, that the state was liable for nearly $500 million of damages arising from the failure of levees built by the federal government with state participation.
Then last June the failure of one levee on the Upper Jones Tract in the south Delta near Stockton cost the state $100 million for emergency response, damage to private property, lost crops, and levee repair. This breach happened during dry season and was ultimately blamed on weakening caused by burrowing rodents.
Earlier this year the state's Department of Water Resources released a report, titled "Flood Warnings," on the Central Valley's flood risks. The report called the Valley's flood-control system a "ticking time bomb" because of the neglected levee maintenance and inadequate funding. DWR estimated the cost to repair at $2 billion.
Late in the 2005 legislative session, DWR put some of the report's proposals into legislation. The bill, AB 1665 by Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), would have renamed the state Reclamation Board, the agency that oversees flood control in the Central Valley, as the Central Valley Flood Management Board. The board would assess the condition of the levees, map flood-hazard areas on rivers, and annually notify property owners in those hazard zones. The board would have been given tax-assessment power to raise money for its work. Sierra Club California supported this bill because it would have provided funding both to repair and maintain the flood control system and to update floodplain maps to provide better information on flood risk to the public and the local agencies that authorize development.
AB 1665, however, brought swift opposition from flood-control agencies, realtors, and taxpayer and homeowner groups. The flood-control groups worried that the bill was unclear about who would be taxed and how. Realtors did not want to have to notify homeowners that they live in flood-hazard zones. With this opposition the bill was scaled back considerably, but by then it was too late to move the bill through the legislature in 2005.
When the legislature returns in January, it will once again take up repair of the levees and how to pay for it. Both Gov. Schwarzenegger and Senate president pro tem Don Perata have suggested a major bond issue for levee work. If such a bond moves forward, Sierra Club California will insist that upgrades to the levees not bring more development and people to floodplains. We will also advocate for more setback levees - levees built farther from a river's edge or channel to give the river more room to spread when waters are high and to provide more natural habitat for wildlife and plants.
© San Francisco Sierra Club Yodeler