State needs to find the political will to upgrade levee system
Sacramento faces the prospect of a New Orleans- style disaster. Our levees are deteriorating, our flood control is inadequate — and it’s just a matter of time before the big one hits.
Californians looking for relief shouldn’t look to the governor’s office. Arnold Schwarzenegger has done little to address the threat. Worse, just weeks after Katrina, with New Orleans still underwater, the governor abruptly fired all the members of the State Reclamation Board, the entity charged with protecting the floodplain. It probably didn’t help that the board’s members had started challenging many of Schwarzenegger’s contributors from the real estate industry.
The truth is, California faces a deep crisis. We have some 2,700 miles of levees in the delta and the Central Valley, many over 100 years old. Together, they protect half a million people, 2 million acres of farmland, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses valued at $ 47 billion. Just one small breach like last year’s Jones Tract flood, near Stockton, can cost as much as $ 40 million to restore. More important, a 1980s court decision holds the state liable for such damages, leaving the repair bill to taxpayers.
It’s not just the rain that threatens the integrity of the levee system. A major earthquake could knock out dozens of levees without warning ( most are, after all, just giant mounds of dirt.) And because the delta supplies two- thirds of California’s drinking water, a major break could shut down the faucets as far away as Los Angeles. This is truly a statewide problem.
Yet in the past decade, California’s flood- control leaders have been swimming against the tide. The number of levee maintenance staff at the Department of Water Resources has fallen, while the backlog of sites to repair has increased. Schwarzenegger and the Legislature increased funding for flood control by about $ 10 million this year, a drop in the bucket compared to what the state really needs.
Rapid urbanization multiplies the problem. Many of the new developments in Elk Grove, Tracy, Stockton, and Davis are built in the floodplain, where the levees were designed to protect farmland, not cities. The builders have little incentive to offer protection and aggressively fight efforts to limit development. The state’s court- ordered liability makes things even worse. Developers can use their clout to win approval for new developments, build homes at risk, then stick the state for the bill when the waters rage. This year alone, California will pay almost $ 100 million to compensate victims of a 1986 levee breach near Yuba City — all while new houses go up next door in the same floodplain.
This perverse system is ripe for reform. Thankfully, there are a number of commonsense solutions out there — if only we had the leadership in Sacramento to realize them.
First, we need to strengthen state oversight of the floodplain. Local governments that approve new developments reap the benefits of an expanded tax base without absorbing the costs of the increased flood risk. The decisions of one city can affect others all the way down the river. Floods don’t follow district lines and neither should flood- control accountability.
Better coordination and policing by the state would reduce the risk. The State Reclamation Board was moving toward such oversight when Schwarzenegger fired every member. Renewing the board’s authority and independence would be a good start.
Second, the state needs to offer the right incentives to private developers to encourage responsible development across the valley floor. Developers should fund levee upgrades as a condition for receiving building permits. They should pay into an insurance or compensation fund so help is available when the inevitable flooding occurs.
Finally, California must invest in levee upgrades and repairs. Simply surveying every levee site to assess deterioration would cost about $ 100 million. Repairing known faulty levees would cost about $ 600 million; a total upgrade to basic safety
standards would run almost $ 2 billion. That’s
before we even talk
about making the levees earthquake- safe;
the cost of that is unknown. Obviously, such
massive projects will
require a combination of federal, state and local funding, bond issues and contributions from developers who stand to benefit from the upgrades.
What’s lacking right now is the political will. Today, too many politicians can simply pass the buck, ignore the problem, and pray that the calamity doesn’t hit on their watch. Of course, sooner or later — it will. That’s why, even as we examine long- term reforms, we need to take some immediate steps: update floodplain maps so we know exactly what’s at risk; expand requirements for flood insurance; and improve emergency response practices to minimize destruction.
The inundation of New Orleans should be a wake- up call to Sacramento. We need a bipartisan plan to protect our homes and businesses — not to mention the Capitol itself. As mired in politics as Sacramento often is, the town won’t look any better under water.