City awarded grant for Marysville Ring Levee accreditation
Water agency board approves $200K
The Marysville Ring Levee is expected to provide the city with a greater than 200-year level of flood protection once completed. The project’s completion date is a few years out, and a recently-approved grant from the Yuba Water Agency will help pay for the accreditation process.
The water agency’s Board of Directors at Tuesday’s meeting unanimously approved a grant to the city for up to $200,000 to complete the certification process.
Marysville Community Development and Services Director Jim Bermudez said the city requested the grant to help its engineering team begin its own certification, both for the 100-year level required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 200-year protection required through the state’s Urban Levee Design Criteria.
Tom Engler, project manager for MBK Engineers, explained that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is carrying out the ring levee project, has the option to certify the project for 100-years following completion but the accreditation only lasts 10 years before the city – the land-use agency – would have to go through its own process. Considering that and the fact the state requires the higher level of protection for urban areas in order to issue building permits in the floodplain, those overseeing the project will begin the process now to certify the levee.
Bermudez said the accreditation process will likely take several years to complete and will be carried out in phases.
“The initial effort is to perform a ‘data gap analysis’ of existing information from various sources, primarily the USACE, to determine if the design and documentation of the levee system developed to date support 100-year and 200-year certifications,” Bermudez said in his request letter to the agency. “The outcome will be an understanding of the current substantial evidence record and the work required to complete this record and finish the certification effort.”
In other words, Engler said, the data gap analysis will basically outline what the city still needs to complete that the Corps isn’t responsible for in order to receive certification.
To date, construction crews have completed approximately 6,100 feet of improvements – or three of seven phases – part of the Marysville Ring Levee project, totaling roughly $27.4 million in improvements. The remaining phases will likely be carried out through 2023.
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