TRLIA submits levees for certification

Weeks ahead of schedule, the Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority has submitted its levee plan to FEMA for certification.

"To me, it's huge," said TRLIA executive director Paul Brunner of the move, which TRLIA and Yuba County officials believe will help the county avoid being remapped by the Federal Emergency Management Agency into a flood zone.

The remapping process for Yuba County, which is expected to conclude early next year, could potentially send flood insurance rates skyrocketing for property owners and create a moratorium on new building.

Eric Simmons, a FEMA engineer in Oakland, said agency officials have received the certification package and are reviewing it.

"The timing of the package is less important than the substance of the data it has," Simmons said, adding FEMA is working with a private consulting company to review what Brunner submitted.

Simmons said engineers will look for the levee's sturdiness, height, erosion control and how it will be operated and maintained when compared to baseline regulatory data. FEMA will also look for how the area handles interior drainage for low-lying spots within Reclamation District 784.

Such reviews typically take several weeks, Simmons said.

TRLIA, created six years ago to enhance flood protection in much of south Yuba County, is scheduled to start work this summer on the last large project, upgrading levees along the Yuba River.

The authority is also at work tearing down an older levee along the Feather River that failed in 1997, having finished work last year on a taller, more robust levee along the Feather.

Total costs for TRLIA levee work have topped $400 million.

The submission, Brunner added, includes acknowledgment of the Goldfields area along the Yuba River, an area some flood-control watchers have said has more risk than is being addressed.

TRLIA's certification would be for 100-year flood protection, and Brunner pointed out FEMA does not believe there's potential for a 100-year flood event in the Goldfields.

Yuba County, TRLIA, the Yuba County Water Agency and RD 784 are studying the Goldfields to see whether further flood protection steps are needed for 200-year protection.

Brunner said he also believes his agency won't have to worry about a proposed change to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers policy about vegetation on levees.

The corps is taking public comment on a proposed change on its variance policy, which allows those managing levees to have more than just short grass on them. Corps policy is to generally bar trees and shrubbery from levees because it increases the risk of levee failure, though wildlife experts said such vegetation can be home to critical habitat.

Brunner said the bulk of TRLIA's levees don't have vegetation beyond what's needed for erosion control. A levee along the Yuba River has elderberry bushes, he said, but the authority has plans to move those bushes as part of the upgrade project.

"We're fortunate in RD 784 that there isn't really a vegetation issue," Brunner said.

Dave Lamon, city services director for Marysville, said the vegetation situation is not a concern for the ring levee system around the city, which is also undergoing an upgrade.

"It's been a preferred standard from the corps before," he said of the no-vegetation edict. "Marysville has never been in a situation where we've had a lot of vegetation."

CONTACT Ben van der Meer at 749-4709 or bvandermeer@appealdemocrat.com.