State of California's Levees

After the Hurricane Katrina disaster, a few local news reports mentioned that California has some levees of its own. Before Katrina, I was only vaguely aware that we have levees because their maintenance was listed as an intended expenditure in a few statewide bond propositions (all of which were approved by the voters):

• Proposition 13, March 2000 (not to be confused with the infamous Proposition 13 from 1978): Text of Proposition 13


• Proposition 40, March 2002: Proposition 40 - 2002 Resources Bond


• Proposition 50, November 2002: California Proposition 50

Before Katrina, I had assumed these levees were merely protecting some Central Valley pastures or something. That's not the case. They are critical, protecting a large share of Southern California's drinking water supply and parts of Sacramento.

When I went looking for some info on the state of California's levees, all I found were some reports on specific flood control projects, such as those published at this Bay-Delta Office site:

DWR Delta Levees Program Home Page

Realizing I'd have to quit my day job (or, even worse, cut into my TV-watching time) to digest the contents of these reports, I promptly gave up. But, the other day, I spotted this story in the local paper:

Don Thompson, San Jose Mercury News: "Report urges replacement of delta water authority" (requires sign in)

At the Governor's request, three separate groups have been analyzing the performance of the Bay-Delta Authority. The story reports on the conclusions of two of the groups (the third is still active). Their conclusions are worrisome:

The state Finance Department issued a less sweeping report Tuesday, giving CalFed mixed grades. The program has done a good job on some environmental and water-storage goals, the department said, but has failed to increase water shipments and protect the 1,000-mile system of levees, which could collapse in an earthquake.

Just in case you didn't already have enough to worry about. Happy Thanksgiving! :-)