Managing Flood Risk by Anna Serra-Llobet G. Mathias Kondolf Kathleen Schaefer & Scott Nicholson

Author:Anna Serra-Llobet, G. Mathias Kondolf, Kathleen Schaefer & Scott Nicholson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

3.5.3 Conclusion and Challenges

Reforms over the last decade have laid the foundation for a new era of multi-benefit flood management in California’s Central Valley as described in the 2012 CVFPP and the subsequent 2017 Update. Initial public investments will focus on expanding the flood bypass system first proposed in the late nineteenth century and constructed in the early twentieth century. Expansion of the bypass system is essential for protecting urban populations against the larger floods that a warming climate is expected to generate in California’s Central Valley . Expanding the bypasses will also increase opportunities for incorporating a number of other benefits into the flood management system including habitat restoration and recreational amenities. Independent of the bypasses, public enthusiasm for habitat restoration and outdoor recreation has resulted in the development of several new multi-benefit flood management projects throughout the Central Valley which will breach levees and restore floodplain habitats.

Implementation of the bypass expansion projects and other multi-benefit restoration projects described in this chapter will require overcoming major funding and permitting constraints. Any modification to the existing flood system will require navigating the Corps of Engineers’ cumbersome section 408 permitting process pursuant to section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 (33 USC 408). In 2014, the Corps of Engineers provided new guidance on the 408 permit process (USACE 2016). Unless state and local project sponsors are able to develop efficient strategies for completing successful 408 applications, several good multi-benefit flood management projects could stall indefinitely. Obtaining regulatory permits under the federal Clean Water Act and the state and federal Endangered Species Acts is another major hurdle to efficient implementation because nearly all projects involve disrupting waters of the USA that harbor endangered species.

Lack of funding to implement the bypasses, other multi-benefit projects, and other elements of the CVFPP is another major hurdle. The state has already dedicated some general obligation bond funding approved by the voters to fully finance some multi-benefit projects and partially finance implementation of the bypasses. Both DWR and the CVFPP hope to identify new funding sources for both implementation and maintenance that are not dependent on periodic bond measures approved by the voters. The 2017 CVFPP identifies some potential long-term, stable funding sources including a statewide river basin assessment, a valley-wide drainage district assessment, or a new state flood insurance program. But all of these funding sources would require approval of the legislature or voters.

Streamlined procedures to efficiently account for how varied funding sources are legally used to finance various aspects of multi-benefit projects are another major financing challenge. Many multi-benefit flood management projects cannot be financed by a single special district with a limited, special-purpose charter such as flood control or water quality, because these agencies are legally prohibited from spending funds on purposes outside of their charter. These projects could be financed by a mix of different funding sources reserved for special purposes like parks, recreation, water quality, flood management, and habitat enhancement, but deciding how much of any one project can

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