Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 1, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
FLOOD LEGISLATION:
Assembly flood protection bills advance - Fairfield Daily Republic
FLOOD ISSUES:
Editorial: Stemming flood risks; Governor wants to establish limits on development in plains areas -
Herger, Army officials tour J levee project - Chico Enterprise Record
OROVILLE FACILITIES:
How the Gold Rush made the Oroville Dam - Oroville Mercury Register
FLOOD LEGISLATION:
Assembly flood protection bills advance
By Ben Antonius, staff writer
FAIRFIELD - Three bills by Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, advanced a step closer to passage Thursday, passing from the Assembly Appropriations Committee to the full Assembly.
Assembly Bills 5, 162 and 1452 aim to strengthen flood protection planning throughout the state. Wolk's flood protection legislation was among nearly 550 bills considered Thursday by the fiscal committee.
The bills will next be voted upon by the full Assembly.
"The committee's approval of these bills is a strong step toward addressing the ongoing disconnect between flood management decisions and floodplain land-use decisions, particularly in the
AB 5 offers financial incentives to encourage local governments to adopt flood protection plans before approving new developments.
The bill also includes minimum flood protection standards for new developments within flood-prone areas.
AB 162 requires local governments to incorporate flood hazards in their general plans to minimize risk in flood-prone areas. AB 1452 sets priorities and establishes criteria for the cost-effective expenditure of the $5 billion flood bond approved by voters in November 2006. #
http://local.dailyrepublic.net/story_localnews.php?a=news06.txt
FLOOD ISSUES:
Editorial: Stemming flood risks; Governor wants to establish limits on development in plains areas
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hopes to go down in history as
Yet his legacy in this realm of public safety is hardly spotless. It was tarnished in last year's legislative session. The governor vacillated as the building industry helped kill legislation to limit development in inadequately protected floodplains. This year, Schwarzenegger seems determined not to repeat that mistake.
Over the past week, the administration has quietly floated a proposal that is rocking the flood management world. The proposal is marked "confidential and privileged." The Sacramento Bee obtained a copy of it.
In the proposal, the administration goes further than it has to date in recognizing that continued haphazard development threatens the administration's strategy for reducing flood risks.
While $4 billion sounds like a lot of money, it isn't enough to adequately protect existing
To avoid that, the administration proposes to prohibit local governments from approving new subdivisions in undeveloped, deep floodplains -- until they have plans in place to more than double their current level of flood protection. It would "close several loopholes that would otherwise allow developers to vest their right to develop in a floodplain," the proposal states, and amend the state's existing development agreement and tentative map statutes.
Unlike other legislative proposals so far, the governor's plan would be effective in 2008. That means cities and counties couldn't grant new entitlements in undeveloped, deep floodplains until at least 2010 -- the earliest they could possibly put forth a viable plan (with funding mechanisms spelled out) for improving their levees and other flood-control systems.
A two-year suspension of new entitlements in these floodplains is appropriate. Currently, officials don't know which levees in the Valley even meet a minimal 100-year level of flood protection. In all likelihood, the overwhelming majority have problems with underseepage, which inspectors have discovered in some developments.
By 2010, flood officials will have a stronger handle on which levees meet a minimal standard, and which don't. Local governments then can lay out their plans for improving flood protection, and make land-use decisions based on facts, not conjecture.
The governor's proposal is still a work in progress. Which floodplains and communities would be affected? How quickly should they be required to raise their levels of flood protection? What kind of standard would be used to judge the adequacy of local government plans for upgrading their levees?
These are all important questions. Yet the governor is on the right track -- and has gone out on a limb -- by advancing this proposal. If legislators in both chambers can work with him on the final product, 2007 could be a historic year for smart flood planning. #
http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/51143.html
Herger, Army officials tour J levee project
By Barbara Arrigoni, staff writer
John P. Woodley Jr., assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, spoke to officials and a handful of press during a visit to the levee with Rep. Wally Herger (R-Chico) and Brigadier Gen. John R. McMahon, Southwest Region commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The Hamilton City Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project has been in the works for several years. It includes construction of a new 6.8-mile long setback levee and restoration of about 1,500 acres of native riparian habitat.
As the supervisor of civil projects nationwide, Woodley visited the area for the first time and said the project represents a "21st Century concept" for flood control and management for communities.
He said the
During a brief press conference, Hamilton City Reclamation District representative LeeAnne Grigsby Puente thanked Herger and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein for their efforts.
Grigsby-Puente also credited Woodley for convincing the Office of Management and Budget not to reduce the $621,000 authorized by the House to continue the project's design phase, which is currently under way.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate recently passed separate Water Resources Development bills containing authorization of the project.
Next, Congress must fine-tune the bill that, if passed, will go to President Bush for his signature. Woodley said he's hopeful the House and Senate will work out differences between the two branches on items in the "big bill" not pertaining to the levee project.
Once Congress authorizes the project, the next phase requiring advocacy will be when it moves on to a budget committee and then to appropriations, Woodley said. He said authorization will hopefully come this summer and the project will hit the budget stage possibly in early September.
One person asked Herger and Woodley if there is a plan B if the project isn't authorized.
Herger answered there is always a legislative process, but added, "We have more momentum going now than we have had before ... The administration and Corps of Engineers are taking this project very seriously. Is it fast enough? No."
He added the project is moving forward and he is guardedly optimistic.
Woodley said once the design phase is complete, the project will be broken into phases for contractors, with oversight by the Corps' project manager of the
Before embarking on a boat tour along the levee, Corps engineer Col. Ronald Light confirmed the project's estimated construction start date is now 2009.
"It's a matter of funding," Light said. "We're competing with projects (like this) nationwide."
Glenn County Supervisor Tom McGowan said he's "still optimistically guarded" about the project, but added, "It looks like we have the attention of everyone who had authority to make this happen."
A Corps spokesman said the local contribution toward the cost of building the levee is about $1 million. The levee is expected to take two years to complete, and the total estimated project cost is now close to $60 million.
BACKGROUND:
WHAT'S NEW: Federal and local representatives took a boat tour along the
WHAT'S NEXT: With water resources bills passed in both the Senate and House of Representatives, Congress will hopefully work out differences in a bill that will ultimately go to President Bush. Part of it will authorize the project. After that the project will be sent to budget officials and then appropriation. #
http://www.chicoer.com/newshome/ci_6035136
OROVILLE FACILITIES:
How the Gold Rush made the Oroville Dam
Oroville Mercury Register – 6/1/07
By Michael Whiteley, staff writer
Gold Fever may have struck in Oroville in '49, yet it wouldn't be until 50 years ago today those initial diggings would be recycled in a process that went on to make the largest earth-filled dam in the world by the time it was completed.
After most other methods of harvesting gold gave way to the more convenient method of dredging the
Of those first explorations into the feasibility of actually building a dam made of earth across Oroville's most pristine valley, where legendary bars, such as Bidwell's Bar, once put this country on the map of
"My grandfather A. T. Merian started mining here back in 1850, and my family continued to mine here up until WW2. Steel and fuel prices then went up and the gold prices stayed the same. It was hard for them to continue on their own as they were a small mining operation," Merian said. About the time the family mining business gave in, Merian's father hooked up with the Richter Brothers of local mining fame and fortune. "My dad worked for them on and off for the better part of his life," he said.
Merian is a 1955 graduate of
Before the Oroville Dam project got under way, Merian remembers that Oroville was "like 10 degrees hotter" than it is today.
"It was hotter because the rock piles collected the heat of the sun all day long and would release it into the air at night. In the rock piles there were no trees," he remembers.
Robert Merian received the contract to begin test drilling for core rock at the proposed dam site when his son was in the Army, but in 1959 his son was back from service and working for his father again, "of course." They had already dug test tunnels, yet were still in the exploratory stages. The young Merian helped out by rebuilding roads to the site.
Later came the rail system that would eventually connect the Gold Rush diggings of Oroville, then referred to as the "Barrow Pits," to the dam site. "They were originally going to build the dam out of concrete but the materials left behind from the dredging bucket-line operations were close at hand. The Gold Rush came first. If it wasn't for the gold that's what made Oroville. And, that's what went on to make the Oroville Dam, too," Merian said.
Merian recalls that there were those who said the dam project destroyed the landscape of Oroville, but "back then you had to eat, and to eat you had to work, and the dam project provided jobs. It was not long after the Depression, and jobs were hard to find. You didn't just go sign up for welfare," he said.
The building of the Oroville Dam changed Oroville drastically, he said. Much of the change was for the better, especially for the state and its drinking water and agricultural needs. Oroville became what is still known as the "Heart of the State Water Project," and due to the many jobs the project created the local economy boomed.
However, there was a downside, too.
"It seemed like 80 percent of the men who worked on the dam got divorced, because the ladies all had new clothes, new homes, new cars, and their men were working long hours ... That's the way it was. Sadly, one day it was done and everything just stopped," Merian said.
"After the work on the dam stopped you could pick up a home by just picking up the payments. Local real estate took a dive and a lot of people struggled," he added. "It was shocking and to think of how you were going to pay the bills."
Merian also noted that some of the promises the Department of Water Resources had made to the residents of Oroville didn't pan out. "I recall there was supposed to be free access to the lake for all the locals. We lost Bidwell Bar and a lot of other beautiful properties. The
Recent negotiations for relicensing the dam, however, has brought the citizens of Oroville yet another Gold Rush of sorts thanks to the Oroville Dam.
"It's all coming back," Merian said, in closing. "When I think about it I am proud to be able to say that I worked on the Oroville Dam. Everyone I worked with thought of it as a fantastic job. The people who come here need to realize our history and where Oroville came from, because it's important. We came from gold." #
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