A plan to extend a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers program for repairing critical riverbank erosion sites became available for public review December 23, 2014, as the Corps and California’s Central Valley Flood Protection Board released their draft post-authorization change report and environmental document for the Sacramento River Bank Protection Project.
The plan describes potential methods of erosion repair work for up to 80,000 linear feet of riverbank along the Sacramento River system and its tributaries. Each February, the Corps conducts a visual inspection of the levees and banks of the Sacramento River Flood Control System to record an annual inventory of erosion sites and prioritize them for potential repair. To date, more than 830,000 linear feet of riverbank have been repaired under the program.
No specific sites are identified for repair within the proposed plan, but 106 representative sites were studied to help determine the scope of repair methods that might be used, including building new setback levees, and their expected environmental impacts.
Any erosion site identified in the annual inventory is eligible for repair.
Eligible sites are prioritized based primarily on the potential for the erosion to lead to levee failure, potential economic loss and other site-specific factors. In order to reduce the risk to life and property, the program provides additional resources to assist beyond the regular maintenance activities of local and state agencies.
Comments on the draft reports will be accepted until February 27, 2015.
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