Question #1

Address your understanding of the current levee and flood control situation and how do you expect to insure adequate flood protection for the city?

Our City is surrounded by water. It is my understanding that we aren’t at the 400 year flood protection level that we have been told in the past. We dropped down to 250+ flood protection level, and now we might not even be at this level.

There is a “cosmetic slip” behind the Valero gas station on West Capitol Avenue. There are several spots along the South River Road south of the Deep Water Channel. Lately a new spot has been found on/near the Ramos Oil place. Also, the Rivers development has experienced some slipping on the levee where the new homes were built. This is a concern to me because I have mentioned this possibility happening to council. Yet we are going to build 18+ story buildings near our levees.

The testing will continue to be done on our levees. I will have to wait for the results to come in and review them along with fellow council members, appropriate department directors and staff. If Proposition 1E passes; we should get funding to work on our levees. Our levees need to be repaired properly—no patchwork fixes that have to be worked on year after year.

Our City needs an evacuation plan and route. I talked to Mike Machado about this issue. He told me that the City needs to initiate this in order for the State to help us with our evacuation route.

Due to a strong partnership between the City and our Reclamation Districts over the past fifteen years, West Sacramento currently has a strong well-maintained levee system and a high level of flood protection. Under the previous Federal rating system our City was at 250-year flood protection, the highest in the valley.

However, as a result of Katrina, the Federal government is reassessing their flood control standards and until they publish their new requirements, no one can be certified to a specific level.

I see the Federal re-evaluation as a positive step toward ensuring the highest level of flood protection (adequate is not good enough!), because the truth is that we can never be complacent about the strength of our levees. That is why in the last year I have made flood control a priority. The City/Reclamation District has worked with State and Federal control agencies to jump-start the testing of our levees to determine their structural integrity. I have supported:

●     Over a million dollars in testing on the southern river levees,
●      $380,000 in contracts to develop a testing plan for the remaining levees,
●      City sponsored legislation to continue the City/Reclamation District joint Power Agency to fund ongoing testing/repairs and maintenance,
●      Request that West Sacramento erosion spots be added to the list of State emergency repairs (the work is almost completed), and
●      Establishment of a new City Flood Control Management position dedicated to managing the City’s flood control efforts and to assist in the updating of emergency evacuation plans.

As a result of these aggressive actions the City is well positioned to take whatever the next steps required by the Federal Government to ensure we have the highest level of flood protection for our residents and businesses

I believe this question has been answered in Question One. Presently, an inspection for FEMA recertification is being undertaken. Until such time as the process is complete, non one can say whether the system will meet the new standards which were put in place last year.

I have confidence in the RD900 management, and in the City’s Public Works Director. I believe the process should be given close scrutiny, but allowed to proceed unimpeded. Once completed, a true picture of the situation will yield direction as to how best to improve, or repair where necessary, our levee system.

Statewide there have been 29 critical sites in California’s levy system identified that need immediate repairs. Two of those sites are in West Sacramento. One of the sites (north of Linden Road) was repaired last winter. The other is presently being repaired. Another location along the Yolo bypass is being repaired by the Corps of Engineers. Those repairs have been made possible with a combination of federal, state and local funds. Those repairs should have given West Sacramento 400 year flood protection. However, in July 2005 FEMA promulgated new standards that go beyond previous standards that address the composition and stability of materials under the levies. Investigation of our levies under the new standards now involves drilling under the levies and soil analysis. West Sacramento should continue its investigation of the levies under the new standards, and seek outside funding for those studies wherever possible, and prepare cost estimates that will allow West Sacramento to be in a position to request funds for repairs when they become available.

Until funding becomes available and the levies repaired, we should also assure we have an adequate emergency preparedness program in place. We need to provide proper funding so that a program is in place to assess flood levels, educate the public on emergency preparedness, and have an evacuation plan in place.

Flood protection is and has been a focal point of our city leaders for some time, and we have done a good job of strengthening our levees and ensuring we have a high level of protection based on available technology and testing. Today, new testing methods suggest that we may have more work to do. Our current city council has done the right thing by providing immediate funding for new tests on our levee systems, and getting the state funding needed to fix damaged levees. Providing flood protection and repairing levees is a continuous process that all city officials – past, present, and future – need to commit to, politics aside.