[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Item for 3/14/08

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

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

 

March 14, 2008

 

1.  Top Item

 

FEMA: Yuba levees aren't strong enough

Marysville Appeal Democrat – 3/14/08

By Andrea Koskey, staff writer

 

Some Yuba County reclamation district officials were surprised to learn Thursday that levees they maintain are not recognized as strong enough to protect residents in a 100-year flood.

The majority of Yuba County’s 50-plus miles of levees were designated as not certified, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials said during a workshop where a tentative designation map was unveiled. Designations will ultimately determine what flood maps, expected to be released this fall, will look like.

For a levee to be certified by FEMA, it must be determined the levee can provide residents a 1 percent, or 100-year, protection from flooding. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is often used as an agency to document improvements made to levees.

Included in the noncertified levees are all 23 miles overseen by Reclamation District 10, north of Marysville.

The news did not please District 10 Chairman Tom Schultz.

“I’m frustrated,” Schultz said. “They’re telling us all of our levees are (not certified), but they are not giving us any reasons why.”

Schultz said the district maintains its levees on a budget of $19,000 and doesn’t have the money to fund studies to determine if the levees meet FEMA certifying standards. He also said the state Department of Water Resources doesn’t see District 10 levees as having major deficiencies.

“We don’t know anything about it,” he said. “Shouldn’t the Corps come out and tell us why the levees aren’t certified?”

The designation on any levee, Corps Flood Risk Program Manager Judy Soutierre said, is based on information the Corps has now.

For District 10 levees, Soutierre said, the agency used the levees’ original designs, which do not show protection for a 100-year flood.

“A lot of the levees out there are not in the greatest shape,” Soutierre said. “They’re not as good as districts think they are in terms of providing protection.”

Soutierre said the Corps does not have enough money, nor the authority, to certify that a levee is strong enough to protect against a 100-year flood after work is completed, unless it is hired to do so.

Other levees listed as not certified include the Marysville ring levee, the Feather River levee, from the Yuba River to the Bear River, and the Wheatland levee along the Bear River.

Yuba County is preparing to construct 6 miles of setback levee along the Feather River, which would protect Olivehurst and Plumas Lake. That project is expected to be completed this fall.

Levees listed as certified include the West Linda levee, the Bear River levee, from the Feather River to Highway 70, and the Western Pacific Interceptor.

Four remaining Yuba County levees, including the Algodon Canal levee, two detention basin levees and the Yuba Basin levee, can be reconsidered before a designation is made because there was not enough information to certify it.

Kevin Mallen, Yuba County community development and services director, and Marysville City Services Director Dave Lamon said the designations to their levees were not a surprise.

Mallen said the county will attempt to correct some inconsistencies between the county and the state maps, but otherwise he knew what was coming.

Lamon said the city is doing soil samples to understand the deficiencies.

“We’re between a rock and a hard spot,” said Lamon. “The situation is always changing and we have to figure how to deal with it.”

If a levee does not have a designation, there is a chance for local agencies to get it certified.

FEMA said agencies have until June 12 to submit data determining a designation. Another round of maps will be released in early August with results of the special requests.

FEMA intends to release preliminary flood maps, which determine the amount of flood insurance premiums, this fall.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/yuba_61533___article.html/levees_county.html\