Western levees need action, says editorial

From the Capital Ag Press, this editorial:

The massive flooding in the Midwest has shown the incredible extremes of nature, the vulnerability of manmade water structures, and the staggering impact of uncontrollable water on people physically, financially and emotionally.

When Senate hearings this spring talked about the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water infrastructure, there were grim assessments of the problems that exist with federally built levees, canals and dams in the country. According to Associated Press, BuRec has 7,911 miles of canals in 17 Western states, most of them managed and operated by local irrigation and water districts.

The American Society of Civil Engineers has estimated $1.6 trillion is needed to rebuild the country’s water infrastructure, a lot of which was built more than 50 years ago.

There have been several examples in the West and elsewhere of the weaknesses in canals, levels and other water storage structures.

In eastern Idaho, the Teton Dam failed in 1976; it collapsed as it was being filled for the first time, sending 300,000 acre feet of water forward and causing massive damage. The Seminary Hill Reservoir near Centralia, Wash., failed in 1991, triggering 3.5 million gallons of water to rush out in three minutes.

In California’s Bay-Delta, Liberty Island, Prospect Island and Little Holland Tract have been examined on who needs to be responsible for the levees there. Prospect Island had levee breaks in 2006 and 2007 and the breach repaired. In 1998, Liberty Island had its levees fail but they were not repaired. Little Holland Tract had floods in the 1990s. In 1997, more than 30 levees gave way in the Central Valley of California, flooding 300 square miles and evacuating 120,000 homes.

While money has been appropriated in some states, the editorial questions whether enough is being spent and if it is happening fast enough, and makes this final point:

University of Maryland’s Clark School of Engineering last year warned in a report that flooding in California’s Central Valley is “the next big disaster waiting to happen” and the flood control system there is incapable of dealing with severe floods. The Sacramento area alone could face more than $25 billion of damage.

After witnessing what has been happening in the Midwest, Western states can wait no longer. Better water plans, funds for them, and construction progress must be done now.

Read the full text of this article from the Capital Ag Press by clicking here.

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