Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
January 29, 2008
5. Agencies, Programs, People
Officials: Heavy rains, not flood control projects, blamed for flooding in
Flooding closes Rock Springs Road; 2,400 gallons of water per second being released - Victorville Daily Press
How Will Sacramento's Weirs Prevent Flooding? - CBS Channel 13 (
FEE REIMBUSEMENTS:
Officials: Heavy rains, not flood control projects, blamed for flooding in
Santa Rosa Press Democrat – 1/29/08
By Bob Norberg and Bleys W. Rose, staff writers
With residents still cleaning up in
In
Residents of a
But county water officials echoed those in the two cities, saying it was just a case of too much rain falling too fast.
"The flooding we have seen has been the result of water not having a place to go," said Mike Thompson, deputy chief engineer for flooding of the Sonoma County Water Agency.
"What is different between this storm and the 2005-06 storm is we saw more rainfall in the northwest part of the watershed," said Mike Ban,
About 5 inches of rain fell in two days last week. Flooding on New Year's weekend in 2005-06 was blamed on high tides and heavy rain, including 5.63 inches in 24 hours along Willowbrook Creek northeast of
Steve Donley,
In the 300-unit park on Rohnert Park Expressway west of Highway 101, a foot of water filled the streets, although it stayed out of the mobile homes because their floors sit about three feet above ground level.
On Monday, maintenance crews were busy unclogging drains designed to carry rainwater to Hinebaugh Creek. Instead, however, creek water traveled in the opposite direction, filling the streets.
Residents like Robert Bowers swept their driveways, gutters and front yards clear of debris that accumulated when the water level retreated down the drains.
"I've been telling the city for years that they ought to build a diversion ditch to keep the water from backing up into low areas like we live in," said Bowers, a retired Caltrans worker
He blames development on Rohnert Park's west side, including stores and a neighboring apartment complex that sit on fill dirt.
Donley said flooding in the low-lying mobile home park has been a problem since it was built in 1973. He also said solving the problem is one of the demands the city made when the park owners asked to turn it into condo-style ownership. The owners have since sued the city for turning down the conversion request.
Donley denied allegations by park managers that the city has worsened the flooding problem by pumping water into the creek.
"It is the frustrating when they say, How come the city doesn't have pumps out there,'" Donley said. "The whole area of the mobile home park is private. The city does not do improvements on private property."
A veteran of the New Year's weekend flood of 2005-06, Bowers said he hadn't been too worried last week because crews had been doing a good job of keeping the nearby confluence of three creeks at the Poncia bridge clear of obstructions. During the past flood, his home was surrounded by water almost 2 feet deep.
Water Agency officials said they performed extensive maintenance to remove Ludwigia that was clogging the Laguna de
But, Thompson said, "once the laguna floods and backs into
The Petaluma flooding occurred in a historic flood plain that extends from the Petaluma River north between Highway 101 and Petaluma Boulevard, said Ban, the city's water resources director.
Ban said the flood was not worsened by the $43 million Army Corps of Engineers flood control project to protect homes and businesses in the Payran area downstream, where water used to be several feet deep during bad storms.
The project includes a new, wider channel through the Payran area and a weir, which is basically a wall with a hole in it, upstream to control the amount of water that flows into the river from the creeks.
Aerial photos after the 2005-06 flood showed water backed up behind the weir, which is well downstream from the area that flooded.
The weir was necessary to keep the flows in
"We don't believe there was any induced upstream flooding," Kinberger said. "That flooding on Friday was far upstream and the water was getting out of bank before reaching our project."
Ban said the flooding would have occurred "even if the flood control project were not there."
"In addition," he said, "we would have had flooding in Payran; there is no doubt the storm would have inundated the Payran area."
Residents of the Leisure Lake Mobile Home Park, which lies in that cradle of creeks, counted themselves lucky because the city had taken measures to keep water out of their neighborhood. In the 2006 flood, residents there had to evacuate.
"Since then, they built the levee up three feet and they were just out here two weeks ago clearing the channel," said Rovenna Vrablik, who takes care of her mother, Erma, who has a home in
On Monday, the Petaluma City Council passed a resolution declaring a local emergency. The declaration was needed to proceed with applications for state emergency funds to assist the city and storm victims, City Manager Mike Bierman said. #
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/EarlyEdition/article_view.cfm?recordID=8529&publishdate=01/29/2008
Flooding closes
Victorville Daily Press – 1/28/08
By Ryan Orr, staff writer
ROCK SPRINGS —
Due to the recent heavy rains more than 366,000 gallons of water per minute is being released into the
The low-lying road which connects
The recent storms caused the California Department of Water Resources to release water from
“Cedar Springs Dam is not a flood control dam so any natural resources that come in, we have to let out,” said John Bunce, operations superintendent for the department.
Starting Sunday, the department began releasing 320 cubic feet of water from the dam per second, or 2,400 gallons.
By Sunday night it was up to 4,500 gallons per second being released, said David Zook, spokesman for
Monday morning they increased the flow again up to 815 cubic feet per second, or 61,000 gallons, Zook added. It will continue at that rate indefinitely he said.
The Cedar Springs Dam holds water in
“That water belongs to us, not the state water project,” Zook said of the natural rainfall.
The Mojave Forks Dam, located further down river from Silverwood lake but still before
The National Weather Service released a flood warning Sunday saying significant water was expected to be released into the
As a result of the alert, Mitzelfelt initiated the telephone emergency notification system to alert residents in the area of the possible flood dangers.
Zook said about 3,000 residents were notified.
Monday afternoon, eight inches of water was still flowing over
Zook said public works officials didn’t expect the road to be badly damaged from the flooding.
According to the San Bernardino County Department of Public Works, no other roads down stream required closure, due to the water being released.
Mitzelfelt said he has been wanting to build a bridge over the river on
Original estimates to build a permanent bridge when it was washed out in 2004 came in at $15 million.
http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/water_4732___article.html/springs_road.html
How Will Sacramento's Weirs Prevent Flooding?
CBS Channel 13 (
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ― The Sacramento River was measured at 12 feet at noon on Monday, but engineers don't talk about opening the weir as a last resort until it reaches 27 feet. This brings up the question: What is a weir?
How does it work?
If you're thinking that a weir is like a dam, you're right. It allows water to escape.
"A weir is essentially a concrete sill or dam that can be used for different purposes," says Arthur Hinjosa from the Department of Water Resources.
For irrigation you might put a weir across a river to dam it up, raising the level for watering crops.
"For flood control we use low spots in the levee that have been armored to alleviate the pressure on the river," says Arthur.
There are six weirs included in the Sacramento River Control Project. Most, like the Tissdale weir, are gravity driven. When the water gets high enough, it flows over the top, like it's designed.
The one weir that is controlled is the
"When it's operated it's doing that, but it's also putting stress along the levees protecting
That's why it's sometimes controversial as to when to open the weir: Quick enough that people living along the river don't flood, but no so soon that levees around
http://cbs13.com/local/sacramento.weir.project.2.640142.html
FEE REIMBUSEMENTS:
By Donna Jones, staff writer
If approved by the court Feb. 22, the settlement would end a string of lawsuits stretching back several years, and agency officials hope, clear the way for new discussions on how to resolve the long-standing problem of groundwater overdraft in the
"This is not the end; this is the beginning," said Dennis Osmer, agency board chairman.
Details of the settlement include:
• The agency will pay $1.8 million to cover the legal expenses of litigants in three separate lawsuits.
• The agency will establish a claims process and make the first of six equal semi-annual refund payments on July 31 to all eligible claimants except litigants.
• Litigants will receive their first refund check, a third of the total owed them, along with the payment for legal costs 10 days after the settlement is approved. The balance of the litigants' refund will be paid in four installments, starting Jan. 1, 2009.
• The agency will forgive $65,000 in unpaid pumping fees incurred by plaintiff William McGrath, one of the plaintiffs of the original lawsuit.
Osmer said regardless of the way the settlement reads, the agency is committed to refunding the money as quickly as possible.
"The concept may not be strictly reflected in the agreement, but it remains the goal of the agency," he said.
McGrath declined to comment on the settlement ahead of final approval in Santa Cruz County Superior Court.
Fellow plaintiff Dick Peixoto also declined to comment on the particulars, but he said getting the lawsuits out of the way is positive step.
"A lot of people didn't get what they wanted," Peixoto said. "But people were willing to negotiate to get it behind us.
The toughest thing for the agency is how to go forward."
The settlement comes in the wake of an appeals court ruling that so-called "augmentation fees" were illegally imposed by the agency. The state Supreme Court refused to review the ruling in September, and the agency board subsequently slashed the $160 per acre foot of water pumping fee to comply with the decision.
But the resulting loss of about $4 million in revenue, half its annual budget, has left the agency reeling. Water directors are scrambling to find alternative funding with several projects under construction to solve a decades-old water shortage including a $63 million, 10-mile long network of pipes to distribute water to coastal farms and a $36 million sewage plant that will provide treated water to be blended with fresh water for irrigation.
Federal and state grants are covering a large share of the cost, but the agency is on the hook for the rest.
The challenge now is finding a cost-sharing agreement among inland and coastal farmers who have been bickering over water projects and financing for years.
No one thinks that's going to be easy, but Osmer said with the issue out of the courts, the parties can sit face to face and find solutions.
"I'm sure these guys are all reasonable fellows, and they're committed to the valley," Osmer said. #
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