From: Joe Hunt 

On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:22:10 -0700, Ellen K.
 wrote:

>Schwarzenegger just asked for a bunch of federal money to fix all the
>levees in California.  I didn't even know we HAD levees here.
>

Here's a state government page with information concerning a levee break
near Stockton in June, 2004 which flooded about 12,000 acres.

http://www.publicaffairs.water.ca.gov/newsreleases/2004/jones04.cfm

And, here's the text of a recent article with information on the scope of
the levee system in the San Joaquin Valley.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-levee7sep07,1,2192555.story

Lawmakers Say Katrina Is Wake-Up Call to Repair State's Levee System By
Bettina Boxall, Times Staff Writer

Saying New Orleans' catastrophic levee breaks were "a wake-up call for
Californians," Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Richard Pombo urged the
Army Corps of Engineers Tuesday to turn its attention to the deteriorating
condition of the state's vast levee system.

"For years, we have known about the severe flood risks we face, but
like Louisiana have been unable to find the funding to do the necessary
repairs," they wrote Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock.

Feinstein, a Democrat, and Pombo, a Republican from Tracy, cited
predictions by UC Davis geologist Jeffrey Mount.

In a recently published paper, Mount predicted a 2-in-3 chance that a major
earthquake or storm would cause widespread levee failures in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the next 50 years.

"A major breach in these levees could imperil hundreds of thousands of
people and endanger most of the state's water supply," Feinstein said
in a statement. "As we have seen in New Orleans, it would be a
dramatic mistake to further delay the repairs that are necessary to protect
communities from the ravages of floodwaters."

Last year's federal legislation reauthorizing CalFed, a state-federal delta
improvement program, included $90 million for delta levee repairs.

But the funds have yet to be appropriated.

And that sum represents just a fraction of what would likely be needed.

"The $90 million is a very small beginning of what we're going to be
able to do to reduce the damage and risks in the delta," said Brandon
Muncy, chief of the water resources branch in the corps' Sacramento
district.

The Feinstein-Pombo letter raises the possibility of a joint federal and
state study to explore long-term levee repairs.

"Clearly, over the long term, much more needs to be done. At this
point, we don't even have a good handle on the different options, and what
they might cost," wrote Feinstein and Pombo, who is chairman of the
House Resources Committee.

Muncy said a pending water appropriations bill in Congress includes
$900,000 that could help fund a comprehensive review of levee risks
and repairs.

The state has started such a study, which the corps would be willing to
join, Muncy said.

The delta, roughly the size of Orange County, is a maze of canals, wetlands
and drained farmlands that lie below sea level.

It is a major source of drinking water for more than 20 million Californians.

It is crisscrossed by more than 1,000 miles of earthen levees, most built
by farmers on top of deep layers of decomposing peat.

A major breach in the system not only would cause extensive flooding but
also would send salt water rushing toward the massive pumps that divert
irrigation and drinking water to the Central Valley and Southern
California, officials said.

"In addition to the human tragedies, a massive flood could devastate
our agricultural economy the same way Katrina decimated one of America's
largest and most important sources of energy," Pombo said.

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