Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment
May 16, 2007
1. Top Item
New hope for repair on aging J levee
By Barbara Arrigoni, staff writer
It's just an idea in the preliminary stages, but the
Bob Johnson and a group of officials including the sheriff, supervisors, environmentalists and representatives of the Department of Water Resources met May 9 at Irvine Finch River Access and the levee.
They met to discuss how to repair a severely eroded area at River Mile 200, north of the
River Mile 200 was severely eroded in storms during the winter of 2005-06 that pushed river levels up to nearly flood stage. The river took 15 feet of riverbank in one storm alone during that winter, said Johnson in a phone interview Tuesday.
The erosion hasn't completely chewed away the slope of the levee, but once it gets to where the bank is straight up and down, the levee is in danger, he said. The levee is 12 feet away from being vertical, he added.
Johnson said last October engineers thought the only way to repair the area would be with truckloads of rock. To do that, the county would have to come up with half the cost of the repair, estimated at $2 million total. DWR would pay the other half.
The county can't afford that, and is reluctant to spend money on a temporary fix that the new levee will replace, he said.
However, one idea that came up May 9 would be to widen the levee by building up the area and "keying" or "toeing-in" to the existing structure, Johnson said.
He said the idea, "was kind of like a light bulb."
Sheriff Larry Jones said late Tuesday he thinks it's a very good idea and very promising — if the engineers feel it would hold until the new levee is built.
"Anything that would take care of the deteriorating areas of the levee ... would be very welcomed," he said.
Early last year, Jones asked state officials to help with emergency repair, hoping it could be done last summer, but funding wasn't possible and another winter came. It was a mild rainy season.
"We got lucky, so lucky," Johnson said. "Everything held really well. We didn't get any damage ..."
Jones said the DWR representatives agreed last week that something needs to be done now, during the dry season while the levee can be accessed. Johnson said an engineer agreed the levee is very vulnerable and expects it can only take one more high-water event before repair becomes an emergency.
Johnson said the new idea is promising because the county wouldn't have as many environmental issues to deal with and it could be a lot less expensive than using rock. He said the county might be able to provide the materials.
Before work can be done, engineers will have to analyze the idea, and details would have to be worked out with The Nature Conservancy, which owns the property. The cost also has to be determined.
Johnson said there will probably be several more meetings before any work can be done. He said ideally work would need to be done by November.
Besides the levee, the group also discussed severe erosion at the residence of Doug Ehrk, just a few yards north of where the J levee ends. The river has taken acres of Ehrk's property and is now only about 150 to 200 feet from County Road 203, Johnson said.
County officials are worried that if the river reaches the road, it will destroy the road and converge with the Glenn-Colusa canal.
DWR for the first time looked at that area and will have to begin studies to see what can be done, Jones said.
For his part, Jones said he is guardedly encouraged, but hopeful the repair can be done and it will end the constant worry about the fragile levee.
"My main responsibility is to keep holding that levee together until we get one that's brand new — and we can go on to something else," Jones said. "It's been going on for decades. It's been in our face every time there's a high water event." #
http://www.chicoer.com/newshome/ci_5905454
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