UPPER LAKE >> As an advisory only, Western Region Town Hall during their regular meeting on January 16 drafted a letter to present to the Lake County Board of Supervisors to take action to fortify the levees between Middle Creek and Clover Creek.
Newly elected Chair, Tom Aceves informed the audience he had inspected the levee a month ago with new Vice Chair, Tim Chiara. “We talked about how the channels were (congested) with trees and brush,” Aceves said.
“We talked about the erosion wall,” Chiara added. “But recently it’s changed dramatically. It doesn’t seem like the levee will bear up and likely there’ll be no levee.”
Aceves disclosed WRTH will invite to their next meeting Angela DePalma-Dow, a water resources professional working in Lake County who coordinates and manages programs with state, city, tribal, and federal agencies in the best practices to protect against invasive species, particularly in Clear Lake. He expressed hope that DePalma-Dow had the credentials to explain the importance of the levee situation.
In 1960, the Lake County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and the State Reclamation Board entered into an agreement to provide routine maintenance, flood fighting and levee patrolling. Maintenance of the creek channel improvements was performed by the State until 1996. In April of 1996 the Department of Water Resources informed the District that they would no longer maintain the channel improvements and Clover Creek in accordance with their 1960 agreement.
Then, in 1999, a vote was held to create a Special Benefit Assessment to pay the full cost of the operation and maintenance (O&M) of the project. There were two benefit zones:
The Upper Basin was to pay for O&M of the levees and channels upstream of the Middle-Scotts Creek confluence. These levees primarily protect Upper Lake and surrounding areas from stream flooding. These levees were properly constructed (by the Army Corps of Engineers) and provide a reasonable level of protection. The Upper Basin Benefit Assessment passed, and these levees continue to be operated and maintained by the District. O&M funding is collected with the property tax and is placed in the District Zone 8 budget.
The county’s website goes on that the Lower Basin was to pay for O&M for the levees downstream of the Middle-Scotts Creek confluence. These levees protect the Reclamation Area from lake flooding. These levees are of substandard construction and are estimated to provide protection; form a 25% annual chance flood (four-year flood). The Lower Basin Benefit Assessment did not pass, and the O&M was relinquished to the State. O&M is now performed in State Maintenance Area Number 17 (MA-17) by the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR). O&M funding is collected with the property tax within MA-17.
Speaking during the public comments segment was Upper Lake resident Sandy Sleeper Robertson. She said she lives on Elk Mt. Rd, “My address is adjacent to the Clover Creek levee, it’s a residence on agricultural land,” she added.
“I am not in danger of flooding because the levee damage is on the south levee, and I am on the north levee,” Sleeper Robertson clarified. “I did however experience flooding a few years ago. That too was due to the county’s lack of a maintenance situation; not a levee breach, but vegetation blocking the drainage, which has been handled.”
She said the south levee needs to have riprap applied to prevent future damage, then that section of levee needs fill and action to return it to its original condition. Riprap can be used to construct levees and embankments that provide a physical barrier against rising water during heavy rainfall or rapid snowmelt. It involves the strategic placement of large, durable rocks or stones along shorelines or embankments. Riprap manages natural flow of water, stabilizing erosion-prone areas. “I am neither an engineer or construction expert, but I do know it required correction,” she clarified. “I have brought it to the county’s attention for four years, but we keep getting the run around and nothing is done”
Sleeper Robertson noted the county got a grant to do a four-year study. “It costs $4 million and 12 engineers determined that the channel needed the sediment and vegetation removed”, she disclosed. “Gee, we’ve been saying that for years! Then they spent another year engineering seven alternatives to resolve the issue but have yet to obtain the grants or permits to remedy the situation.”
Council member Lisa Benavides drafted a letter to the Board of Supervisors. In part, Benavides noted that Wednesday’s focus was on solutions based on the board’s subcommittee research, presented at a November WRTH town hall. “They learned, by inspections by the Department of Water Resources, the earth levee have not compensated a severely overburdened channel from vegetation.
The letter also appealed to the county for a clear plan to address the engineering challenges. They asked the county to pursue federal funding, rather than deplete Upper Lakes’s limited resources. … “The risk of catastrophic flooding grows with each passing season, especially in the unpredictability of current weather patterns. A levee failure would endanger lives, schools, businesses and the overall economy.”
Sleeper Robertson revealed, the taxpayers have been paying on a bond for decades for levee and flood control maintenance, so the costs is not really on the county, it’s been paid by the taxpayers. But the county is in charge of the funds, she said. “I personally pay over $1000 a year for the flood control maintenance and repairs but see very little done.”
“I do not believe going to the board of supervisors would be of any assistance, because they would hand it back to the Department of Water Resources, since the levees fall under their jurisdiction,” she maintains. “But when the town is flooded again and there are major damages (not covered by insurance because those homeowner policies do not cover flood damage), maybe someone will take action when there are mass lawsuits.” Sleeper Robertson is a licensed insurance agent with the NorCoast Life Insurance Agency.
