Editorial: Reclamation board must act on Natomas levees

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees to the state Reclamation Board will face a glaring spotlight in coming days and weeks as they decide on permits Sacramento is seeking to quickly upgrade levees in Natomas.

The Reclamation Board, which has authority over all government-owned flood control structures in the Central Valley, isn't accustomed to making speedy decisions. It often likes to deliberate at length, especially when the subject matter is contentious.

Yet there are numerous reasons why the Reclamation Board can't afford to equivocate on Friday as it begins its Natomas deliberations. Some 70,000 people live in this deep flood basin. All face an unacceptably high degree of risk until Natomas' levees are upgraded. Many of these families are confronting higher flood insurance premiums as they struggle to make mortgage payments. All the while, the state faces a staggering legal liability if a levee were to break during a winter flood.

Working quickly, the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency has come up with a plan for quickly bulwarking Natomas. Bolstered by a local tax assessment and a bond measure approved by state voters, SAFCA is ready to launch a $400 million program to strengthen 25 miles of levees that engineers say is vulnerable to underseepage and other threats.

If it can start next year, the flood control agency hopes to complete work in 2010. That means that, in a best-case scenario, Natomas residents will only have to endure three winters with levees that fail to meet minimal federal standards.

Turning this best case into reality will be tough. Various interests are coming together to oppose SAFCA's plans. Among the opponents are Natomas residents on the Garden Highway who don't want their homes disrupted by construction work, as well as levee districts to the north and east that are suspicious of SAFCA.

At Friday's meeting, Reclamation Board members will likely hear claims that higher and wider levees in Natomas will displace flood waters elsewhere – up and down the Sacramento River.

This might be a legitimate concern if SAFCA were planning to narrow the flood control channel. It's not. As the agency's engineers have made clear, all widening and raising of Natomas' flood defenses will be done on the interior – or "dry" side – of the levee. By leaving the existing channel untouched, SAFCA's project will have no affect on water levels, even in the largest floods.

Reclamation board members should take time to understand the basic hydraulics. If they do, they'll see it is exactly the kind of project that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger envisioned when he pushed for Proposition 1E, the $4.4 billion flood control bond that voters approved last year.

In endorsing the bond measure, the governor said: "The key thing is for us not to wait anymore. … I just don't want to sit here and get caught up with that and not having acted."

The seven members of the Reclamation Board should heed these words. Although they are obligated to look out for the entire Central Valley Flood Control Project, they also must marry such considerations with the fact that 70,000 people are at risk. A reasonable fix is at hand. Winter is upon us. Equivocation is not a luxury that Californians can afford.