Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
March 28, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
Editorial: More leaky levees
West Sac gets a better handle on flood risk
Sacramento
Flood advice expected
State panel to study safety of building on flood plains
San Bernardino County Sun
The looming sinkhole crisis
Aging pipes badly needing repair are to blame for craters cropping up in cities worldwide.
Los Angeles
City locked in struggle for marina
San Leandro hopes to revitalize yacht harbor, but costs becoming too high
Oakland
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Editorial: More leaky levees
West Sac gets a better handle on flood risk
Sacramento
It looks as if West Sacramento will be joining the growing ranks of communities in the Central Valley that are finding flaws in their flood control systems because they are looking harder for problems.
Based on a recent review of its levee system, the city is learning that a widespread weakness in the flood walls -- underseepage -- affects
"Virtually every segment of our levee system will need one form of work or another," said Caroline Quinn, assistant director of public works and community development. "We do have significant work to do. It is not unexpected."
So
It is essential for residents in harm's way to invest in their own public safety. Governments on both sides of the river are doing their jobs to identify the problems. It takes a concerned public to do something about them.#
http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/144957.html
Flood advice expected
State panel to study safety of building on flood plains
George Watson, Staff Writer
Community leaders finally can expect to receive useful information about building on hazardous flood plains found in the foothills below the many mountain ranges across
That's because the state has reached a deal to partner with the Water Resources Institute at Cal State San Bernardino to study alluvial fans.
The fans - the buildup of sediment that flows off mountains and fills the canyons below - are becoming home to more and more people, leading to concerns about safety for residents and vast property damage.
It's been a long time coming. About 2 1/2 years have passed since the Legislature approved a bill later signed into law for the Alluvial Fan Task Force. Still, results won't be arriving anytime soon because the task force has yet to convene.
But after much delay, the deal between the state and the institute shows that the plan is finally moving forward, said Susan Lien Longville, director of the Water Resources Institute.
"We have a huge task ahead of us," Lien Longville said. "But this is really important. It's going to be more of a risk to people as we continue toward sprawl."
The term "alluvial fan" became part of this region's lexicon in 2003 when a Christmas Day flood of raging water, trees and boulders killed 16 people - including nine children - and destroyed homes and other property below the
Approximately 15 people will be asked to join the task force, said Ricardo Pineda, chief of the state Department of Water Resources' flood-plain-management branch.
Members will include scientists, consultants, planners, elected leaders, flood-control authorities, builders and conservationists.
Lien Longville said she wants to have "some major players on board" to ensure the task force's efforts are received well by city council members and county supervisors throughout
Pineda hopes to begin scheduling meetings of the task force by summer.
The goal? To create a model ordinance for communities that face the potential of alluvial-fan flooding.
"Hopefully, we'll be making wiser decisions," Lien Longville said.
Pineda and Lien Longville discussed how the task force's role will be advisory, not regulatory. That had been a concern for at least one local building leader who wondered whether the task force would lead to another level of government.
Bureaucratic red tape has held up the formation of the task force, officials say. So much time has passed that the law, signed in October 2004 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, expired Jan. 1. Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, is expected to file a new bill with the same language, enabling the task force to continue having the backing of the Legislature.
Understanding alluvial fans' role in flooding is critical for this region because of the wildfire phenomenon.
For up to five years after a destructive wildfire, experts say, the power of a debris flow made up of water, dirt, brush, trees and boulders can increase by a factor of 40. The increase is so dramatic because denuded slopes don't have vegetation to slow the flow's path.
"We're still not out of the woods, in terms of flooding dangers, from the Old Fire and Grand Prix Fire of 2003," Pineda said.
And as population growth in
By 2020, developers are expected to have built homes for up to 4 million more people on alluvial fans in San Bernardino, Riverside and neighboring counties, flood-plain-management estimates show.#
http://www.sbsun.com/ci_5536148
The looming sinkhole crisis
Aging pipes badly needing repair are to blame for craters cropping up in cities worldwide.
By Thomas Rooney
WHEN THEY SAW the recent pictures of a giant sinkhole in
They're wrong.
The
Last year was the worst ever in the
In
In
In
And this year is shaping up to be even worse. From
Yet for all this damage, few people understand how broken pipes create sinkholes. Most water and sewer pipes in the
When pipes break, two things happen: Water or sewage gets out, and water or dirt gets in. Havoc results when dirt enters a broken pipe and is whisked away, as though on a magic carpet ride. Soon, even if only by a spoonful a day, the dirt disappears from above the pipe and below the sidewalk — or below the road, park, building, etc.
We also know that rainwater entering broken pipes can overload sewage systems, causing even more sewage spills. Rain, though often cited as the culprit in sewage spills, is frequently just an innocent bystander.
Even when bad pipes don't lead to a sinkhole catastrophe, they can cause major problems. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that last year 3.5 million people became ill from E. coli and other toxins released from 40,000 sewage spills. A study last year by UCLA and
Pipes are not that hard to fix anymore. With video cameras to find the leaks and new trenchless technology to fix them without the need for digging up streets, there is only one reason why so many broken pipes are forming so many huge sinkholes: We are not paying attention.
This may be changing. Mayors in
That's the good news. The bad news is that the pipes are getting worse faster than people are catching on.#
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rooney28mar28,0,7397605.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail
City locked in struggle for marina
San Leandro hopes to revitalize yacht harbor, but costs becoming too high
By Martin Ricard, STAFF WRITER
The big ideas began to unfold: attached housing, a community center, restaurants, hotels and a scaled-down harbor allowing small sail boats, rowing and houseboats. More big ideas would follow.
Those ideas never materialized. The plan was never adopted. Other plans have remained stagnant because the
city hasn't been able to attract the right funding to complement the hefty price tag.
Even as the developers attempted to help the city realize the marina's full potential, they projected that the cost to dredge and maintain the yacht harbor would someday become too costly.
That day has come. But now that the council has formed a standing committee and opened its meetings on the marina to the public, they have been determined to find a way to keep the marina as the "crown jewel" of the city — even though the jewel has long since lost its glimmer.
"We can see that the problems are complex," Mayor Tony Santos said Monday night at a work session studying the marina shoreline and 45-year-old yacht harbor. "But I'm not sure they're insoluble."
The City Council heard more details Monday about the marina's problems.
The city doesn't have any immediate plans to dredge the two-mile channel and harbor, which have been silted up for several months.
But closing the harbor also would carry a debt that would haunt the city for years, city staff said.
Developing a "master development" plan that would examine all of the environmental, financial and regulatory constraints associated with operating the marina without a yacht harbor is the council's best option, city staff said.
Council members also got a glimpse of how that plan might look compared with other Bay Area marinas, which all in some way are struggling to stay afloat.
But while other marinas operate at a loss — mainly because of high dredging costs — most have something San Leandro lacks: a residential component and other types of development that generate a steady stream of revenue.
City officials have intentionally kept that option — and, consequently, most developers — at bay, citing the city's general plan policies and residents' objections as the reason.
The dilemma council members now face,
"How can we put all these things together to make the marina as financially viable as possible?"
Although council members were divided over which direction they should take the marina, residents were adamant in their responses: Past mistakes never can be made again.
Paul Nahm, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce's Marina Task Force, thanked the council for including the public in their discussions of the marina but challenged council members to get their priorities in order.
City officials have tried twice before to develop the marina, "but we should keep the opportunities open if we want to put the necessary development into the marina," he said. "We should keep the marina alive until we have somebody to put the millions into it."
John Manuel, president of the Marina Action Committee, said the council's efforts seemed too little too late, but he didn't want to see another development move forward without politicians and residents being on the same page.
"Let us all work together toward a conclusion that leaves no doubt as to how we feel about the marina being compromised, and that involvement in the decision making process be all inclusive," Manuel read from a statement before submitting it to the council.
In the end, council members agreed they didn't want to get burned again with another set of stalled plans — and they vowed the marina dilemma will be solved under their watch.
"We're going to have to make a decision,"
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_5537754
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