By DAN JUDGE/Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald
Monday, January 23, 2006
Editor's note: This is part of a continuing series on water issues affecting Solano and Napa counties.
NAPA - Hard as it may be for some to believe, there was a silver lining to the dark cloud that burst over Napa on New Year's Eve.
Despite a thorough drenching that flooded Napa's downtown and caused an estimated $70 million in damages to the city and $115 million worth of losses countywide, the half-completed Napa River flood control project still proved its worth.
New, raised bridges allowed water to flow out more quickly while terraced banks and revitalized wetlands let the river expand outward without overflowing its banks. Just as importantly, the $300 million project caught the attention of state and federal political leaders who have their hands on the funding purse-strings.
"We're getting a visit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington D.C. in February to see how they can accelerate the project and ask for more funding from the White House," Napa Mayor Jill Techel said. "We're hopeful they will see the need to finish the project and that it's a project that makes dollars and sense."
The Napa River Flood Protection Project, which covers about 6 miles, was the response to a river that has constantly bullied those who live along its shores for the last century and a half.
Since 1862, serious flooding on the Napa River has occurred 21 times. Napa Creek, flowing through the center of downtown, is even more flood prone. The community has suffered more than $600 million in property damage due to flooding during the past four decades alone.
The river's problems are largely the result of 150 years of mismanagement.
Once a major route of commerce, the Napa River's banks were raised to create a defined channel for ships. Levees also were built to "reclaim" wetlands for agricultural and commercial use.
Unfortunately, those steep banks cut the river off from its natural flood plain and wetlands where water historically spread out harmlessly in times of heavy runoff. The result was too much water in too narrow a space.
Several bridges also were built too low to the river, acting as dams and debris-catchers when water levels rose.
Nature played it own tricks as well, bending the river back on itself at one point near Napa's downtown. Heavy flows hit that U-turn called the Oxbow, build up too quickly and overflow the banks.
In an effort to address the problem, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers twice proposed standard flood control projects that employed concrete and riprap while paying little attention to environmental concerns. Voters turned down both plans. It was apparent that a special plan would be needed to win their hearts, minds and wallets.
A new course was struck in the 1990s. A community coalition formed that included local engineers, architects, river experts, business and agricultural leaders, environmentalists, government officials, residents and community organizations. They hammered out a plan to restore the Napa River to a more natural state, re-establish the wetlands safety valve and make it more accessible to the public.
"The project is critically important on several levels," said Barry Martin, spokesman for the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. "It's important to those people who keep getting flooded time and time again. On another level, it's just good government to invest in prevention rather than always paying for the clean-up."
It would be a big job, though. Widening the area for water runoff required the removal of 33 buildings, 53 mobile homes, three public streets, an animal shelter and a restroom at Napa Valley College.
Also, old, unused portions of the Napa Sanitation District treatment plant also were torn down, four miles of the Napa Valley Wine Train track needed to be removed and a defunct motel and restaurant were demolished.
Nine bridges are being affected with five of them being totally replaced. In addition, a bypass will be built at the river's bend to allow pent-up water a place to go until flood waters recede.
The project also includes the restoration of 650 acres of tidal wetlands, the cleanup of 12 properties with petroleum contamination and the removal of 1 million cubic yards of dirt from the river banks. The work includes a variety of new levees, dikes, culverts, bridge replacements and flood walls in the most vulnerable areas.
It would reconnect the river to its historic flood plain, maintain its normal slope and width while allowing the river to meander as much as possible and retain natural channel features like mud flats, shallows and sandbars. The concept also included supporting a continuous fish migration and riparian corridor along the river.
Dubbed the "living river" design, it has been described as a "new paradigm" for flood protection projects in the United States.
Napa County voters liked the plan and approved a half-cent sales tax to provide half the funds for the project. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers promised to pick up the rest of the tab.
Construction on the project started in earnest during 2000 and was originally slated for completion around 2007. Reductions in federal funding and promised state reimbursements for work done has moved that finish date back to 2011 or beyond. The project is now only 40 percent complete.
Each year the Army Corps, the president and Congress go through a complex bartering system to reach an agreement on funding for the federal share of the Napa project. Last year the Army Corps of Engineers estimated the project needed $34 million. It received $12 million.
The Army Corps of Engineers estimated it would spend $24 million on the project this year. When the president's budget came out, however, only $6 million was allocated. Martin believes that approach is penny-wise, but pound-foolish.
"The government has probably paid more than the cost of the whole project in just damage claims and cleanup over the course of the last three floods," said Martin. "Rather than treating the symptoms, you're treating the disease when you finish the whole project."
Bolstered by news footage of flood damage in Napa and, more importantly, the damage that did not occur because of the half-completed flood control measures, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, proposed in letters to President Bush earlier this month that he ask Congress for $31 million for the Napa project this year.
Mayor Techel said she also received a telephone call from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger checking on Napa's status. That conversation ended with the governor promising to seek the roughly $51 million in reimbursement funds the state owes Napa on the project.
Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd, who also is chair of the county Flood Control and Water Conservation District, said he realizes both the state and federal governments have other funding priorities. Nevertheless, he hopes recognition of the disaster that could have been averted - and the commitment of the voters to help pay to fix the problem - will sway them in favor of finishing the project.
"The reality is the work we've done so far has obviously made a substantial difference," Dodd said. "We hope the message we have been carrying to Sacramento and Washington for all these years will be processed differently and we will get the funding we need."
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