[Water_news] 5. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS: AGENCIES, PROGRAMS, PEOPLE - 3/22/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

March 22, 2007

 

5. Agencies, Programs, People

 

SACRAMENTO FLOOD ISSUES:

Flood-control spending set at $110 million; Army Corps announces priorities for Sacramento-area river projects - Sacramento Bee

 

Editorial: Finally, no flood fight; House OK Folsom Dam fix; will voters? - Sacramento Bee

 

CARMEL RIVER ISSUES:

HOMEOWNERS NEAR RIVER SUED; Water district says work done without permits - Monterey Herald

 

FUNDING FOR PROJECTS:

States gives $2.5 million to county water projects - The Willits News

 

 

SACRAMENTO FLOOD ISSUES:

Flood-control spending set at $110 million; Army Corps announces priorities for Sacramento-area river projects

Sacramento Bee – 3/22/07

By David Whitney, staff writer

 

Sacramento will get all the money it needs for ongoing flood-control work this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed Wednesday.

 

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, said late Tuesday that the corps had completed work on its spending priorities for 2007 and that a record $110 million will be spent on Sacramento-area projects.

 

While the corps has consistently maintained that Sacramento is a top priority, money for work this summer was in doubt because of Congress' failure to pass a spending bill for water projects last year.

 

Congress, now under Democratic control, approved a resolution in February funding the government but without all of the specific earmarks, such as those that have guided corps spending in Sacramento.

 

Instead, the congressional resolution left it up to the corps to set priorities about how it would spend more than $2 billion appropriated to it.

 

Those priorities were released this week.

 

"This is going to keep us on track," said Christine Altendorf, deputy district engineer for project management in the corps' Sacramento office.

 

"We are moving full-force ahead," she said.

 

Altendorf said the corps' top civilian leader, Defense Assistant Secretary of Civil Works John Paul Woodley, has toured the Sacramento area and was well aware of the need for improved flood protection and that he "went to the plate for these projects."

 

The spending includes $12.5 million for south Sacramento County river protection, $76.6 million for continuing work on the American River and $21 million for Sacramento River bank protection.

 

Matsui said that the corps' spending decisions for the rest of the 2007 fiscal year free Congress to focus on the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. #

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/142028.html

 

 

Editorial: Finally, no flood fight; House OK Folsom Dam fix; will voters?

Sacramento Bee – 3/22/07

 

What a wonderfully quiet moment it was in the U.S. House of Representatives the other day when the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a $683 million flood-control project for Folsom Dam.

 

Off and on over the past decade, this committee has been the scene of some strange, ugly fights, centering on Sacramento's flood control problems and Rep. John Doolittle's desire to build an Auburn dam rather than pursue the downstream solutions on the table.

 

When Doolittle's Republican Party controlled the House, progress on flood control for the region got bogged down in the Auburn dam debate. Entire packages of national flood control legislation were at times delayed. There was one infamous subcommittee meeting when such members as the Bay Area's Rep. Ellen Tauscher entered the room not knowing what she was about to vote on because the Republican leadership had kept the legislation and its Sacramento-area contents a secret.

 

The theatrics were a sad departure from the tradition of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's crafting flood control legislation in an open, bipartisan fashion. Deviating from that tradition served neither political party in the long run.

 

The new challenge -- and it is a whopper -- is a lack of fiscal discipline. The Sacramento project was part of a $40 billion water and flood control bill. Necessary spending reforms to justify projects were conspicuously missing. So long as pork takes a front seat to important policy reforms, Sacramento's project in the mix remains at risk.

 

The local Folsom Dam project would create a new spillway to allow the dam to release more water earlier during storms. That's absolutely essential to protect Sacramento. The existing outlets are configured in a way that prevents maximum releases until it is possibly too late. When a mammoth cycle of storms aims for our area, the need is to react as quickly as possible. And for Folsom Dam, a timely response will require a new spillway.

 

In the House, special thanks go to Sacramento Rep. Doris Matsui and James Oberstar of Minnesota, the committee chairman.

 

Getting Congress to approve funding for the project, however, is only one part of the puzzle. A vital piece involves Sacramentans being willing to invest in flood control projects. Congress typically provides 65 percent of the money and the state 25 percent, leaving local residents with 10 percent of the tab. That money must come from a proposed property assessment. In an election being conducted by mail, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency has sent ballots to property owners in the floodplain.

 

The election lasts until April 19. If your ballot envelope is stuck in that mail pile at home, please take the time to vote Yes. This is a historic moment that could dramatically improve the region's ability to withstand its greatest natural threat. #

http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/141787.html

 

 

CARMEL RIVER ISSUES:

HOMEOWNERS NEAR RIVER SUED; Water district says work done without permits

Monterey Herald – 3/22/07

BY Kevin Howe, staff writer

 

Two Carmel Valley homeowners are being sued by the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District over allegedly illegal brush-clearing and riverbank construction on the Carmel River.

 

The suits were filed March 8 against homeowners Roy Woods and Nick and Gerda Marotta, whose residences adjoin one another on Via Mallorca at the river.

 

The Marottas are accused of illegally removing riverside vegetation and building a pier that intrudes into the river using broken concrete, poured concrete and brick, said attorney David Laredo, general counsel for the water management district.

 

Woods, he said, is accused of illegally cutting vegetation and conducting grading and bank reinforcement construction on the river behind his house.

 

In both cases, Laredo said, the work exceeded existing permits and was done without necessary new permits from the district, the Army Corps of Engineers and the state Department of Fish and Game. The district is alleging the work is potentially damaging to wildlife on the river and to the structural integrity of the Via Mallorca bridge across the river.

 

The district is asking that the owners remove the illegal construction and replace the vegetation.

 

Michael Stamp, attorney for the Marottas, said his clients and the district have been trying to work out an agreement "for quite a while" and that going to court will provide a forum for resolving the issues.

 

Woods is represented by Monterey attorney Michael Whilden. No court date has been set. #

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/16951608.htm

 

 

FUNDING FOR PROJECTS:

States gives $2.5 million to county water projects

The Willits News – 3/21/07

 

The State of California Water Resources Control Board has awarded nearly $2.5 million to six water infrastructure and habitat improvement projects in Mendocino County.

 

Among recipients is the City of Willits, which will receive $280,681 to assist with its wastewater treatment and water reclamation project.

 

The Covelo Community Services District will receive $784,910 to assist with improvement of its wastewater treatment facility.

 

The grants were awarded as part of the North Coast Integrated Regional Water Management Plan, a voluntary collaboration among Mendocino, Sonoma, Humboldt, Del Norte, Siskiyou and Modoc counties.

http://www.willitsnews.com/community/ci_5488179

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