[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 12/21/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

December 21, 2007

 

1.  Top Item

 

Editorial note: California Water News will not be distributed on Monday, December 24. It will resume service on Wednesday, December 26.

 

Residents file suit over levee project

Sacramento Bee – 12/21/07

By Matt Weiser, staff writer

 

A coalition of Garden Highway residents filed suit Wednesday against Sacramento's flood control agency, alleging a massive levee project planned in the city's Natomas basin fails to address a host of potential environmental problems.

 

The Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency approved the $400 million Natomas levee project Nov. 29. The agency's board, made up of city and county elected officials, approved both an environmental impact report and the first phase of construction, planned for summer 2008.

 

The project would raise and widen nearly 25 miles of levees bordering the Natomas basin to satisfy federal flood control officials.

 

In 2006, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that Natomas levees don't meet new underseepage criteria.

 

Subsequently, the Federal Emergency Management Agency declared that the region will lose its 100-year flood safety certification, forcing the basin's 70,000 residents to buy flood insurance and likely causing development restrictions.

The project aims to correct these deficiencies by 2010.

 

But the Garden Highway group, which represents about 100 homeowners, fears a variety of harmful consequences from the project.

 

Many homes along the road are built on the water-side of the levee, which follows the Sacramento River.

 

The lower floors of these homes routinely flood when the river swells, and many are elevated to accommodate this.

 

But the SAFCA project will raise the levee as much as 3 feet, and residents fear their flood depths also will rise as a result, causing more damage.

 

Some also worry that deep seepage walls proposed in parts of the project could halt the flow of groundwater and compromise their drinking water wells.

 

"The Garden Highway Community Association wants flood protection for Natomas just like the people of Natomas," said the group's spokesman, Patrick Tully. "Unfortunately, SAFCA has been dismissive of our very real concerns, including the true impact of this monstrous project."

 

SAFCA chairwoman and Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo said the lawsuit was "disappointing." She noted that the design for the project was chosen, in part, to benefit Garden Highway residents.

 

Army Corps rules could take a hard line on so-called levee "encroachments." This includes the Garden Highway homes themselves, which the corps may view as a threat to levee stability and access.

 

The proposed project involves what SAFCA calls a new "adjacent" levee that would widen the existing levee structure by as much as 300 feet on the inland side. This would shift the regulated levee profile away from the Garden Highway homes so they are no longer viewed as encroachments.

 

This design, Fargo said, minimizes construction impacts to Garden Highway residents.

 

"I'm sorry they don't understand that and don't agree," Fargo said. "It's very frustrating."

 

The Garden Highway group also contends SAFCA failed to fully explain the hydraulic consequences of its project on the rest of the flood control system. The agency maintains that its neighbors won't be harmed by the project, including those protected by shorter levees across the river in Yolo County.

 

Tully's group argues SAFCA should have analyzed more alternatives, including a setback levee or modifications to the Yolo Bypass. They want the court to impose a restraining order and require new environmental studies. Fargo said this could delay the project by at least a year.

 

Today the state Reclamation Board will consider granting a construction permit for the first stage of the project, which involves improvements to Natomas Cross Canal levees. The issue is set to be heard at 1:30 p.m. at 1416 Ninth St. in Sacramento. #

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/584036.html

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