River Wins One--Maybe Two

Sometimes the river wins. Gov. Pete Wilson’s flood emergency task force is recommending that 3,000 acres of farmland along the San Joaquin River be purchased from owners and turned back into natural flood plain.

It’s a small step, but an important one. The January floods severely damaged levees along the San Joaquin in the area southwest of Merced. The traditional reaction has been to rebuild the levees, sometimes making them stronger and higher.

But in this case, the officials from both state and federal agencies think it better to remove the levees and allow the river to flood the 3,000 acres during periods of high water, easing pressure on other levees and flood control facilities.

The undeveloped land would become part of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge. Money that would otherwise be used to rebuild levees will go toward land purchases.

A different decision was made in Sacramento the other evening when the City Council voted 8 to 0 to lift a ban on residential construction in the North Natomas flood plain bordering the Sacramento and American rivers.

The prohibition was imposed after the 1986 floods. It was lifted after local officials declared that $80 million worth of new levees and other facilities provided North Natomas with protection against the statistical 100-year flood. Seven developers have proposed plans for 16,000 housing units in the area.

North Natomas is the last large unbuilt region in Sacramento. Some call it a “bathtub” because it is also the deepest flood plain within the city. The levees now are stronger, one environmentalist acknowledged, but that means the flooding would be even more devastating in the event of a failure.

UC Davis geology professor Jeffrey F. Mount, an expert on rivers, says that levees such as those at Natomas inevitably will fail or be topped. It could be 100 years, but it also could be next year.

Mount, in his book “California Rivers and Streams,” has vigorously attacked the notion that 100-year flood protection makes an area safe for development. He called it a line in the sand, adding, “This approach to planning is a tragedy in the making.”

The federal government must still approve certification of flood protection for North Natomas, a process expected to take about six months. There is tremendous local economic pressure to build in the area north of downtown Sacramento. Even so, federal officials need to be certain this is a risk worth taking.

Sometimes the river wins, whether you want it to or not.