California's Levees Are in Sorry Shape
A quake across the delta could imperil water supplies. Back in play: the Peripheral Canal.
By Bettina Boxall
Times Staff Writer
September 19, 2005
The threat is well known. A big quake rumbles across the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, knocking out dozens of the primitive levees that guard the state's main water crossroads. A key source of water for nearly two out of three Californians and the nation's biggest fruit and vegetable garden is shut down for months, maybe even a year or two.
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The delta's vulnerabilities have also prompted some experts to dust off an idea they believe might be more practical: building a canal that would route water around the delta to agricultural and urban consumers in Central and Southern California. For though it may be technically possible to armor the delta, many experts doubt it is economically feasible.
Schwarzenegger last week asked the federal government for $90 million to improve some of the most critical levees in the delta and the Central Valley. But that is a fraction of the $1.3 billion in repairs officials say it will take just to bring the delta levee system up to basic standards. And that would do little to protect it from earthquake damage. The state Department of Water Resources can't even say how many billions more it would cost to do the seismic work.
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The Peripheral Canal died largely because of fears that it would become a giant straw through which Southern California could suck more of the north's water. Though the concept remains highly controversial, Miller is not the only one raising it. Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt mentioned it recently at a hearing on the CalFed program he helped set up to improve water delivery from the delta. And even some environmentalists are broaching the idea of a smaller pipeline around the delta that would ferry some — but not too much — water south.
Overall, the delta levee system is in far worse shape than the levees that so dramatically failed in New Orleans. They have collapsed for no apparent reason in good weather. Dozens could fall apart if a major earthquake or flood were to strike, not only imperiling water supplies but also flooding thousands of acres of farmland as well as highways and railroads that cross the delta.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-levees19sep19,1,540408.story?coll=la-headlines-california
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