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Levee improvement project groundbreaking signals start of work

Nov 10, 2009

By Brooks O. Hubbard IV

SANTA MARIA, Calif.--U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, along with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Santa Maria and the County of Santa Barbara, participated in a groundbreaking celebration that marked the beginning of the Santa Maria River Levee Improvement project, which was held next to the levee Oct. 19.

"This levee behind me protects about 17 (thousand) to 20,000 homes in the city of Santa Maria," said Santa Maria Mayor Larry Lavagnino. "With our population of over 100,000, if you count everybody, we're talking about protection for a lot of people."

The $40 million project, the single largest project funded to date in Santa Barbara County under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, will strengthen nearly seven miles of the levee from Blosser Street to the Bradley Canyon Levee east of the city's landfill.

Capps led the effort in Washington to obtain the federal funding and stimulus money to pay for the levee repair project.

"This project was in the right place at the right time," said Capps. "Because of the need for recovery and investment, the stimulus funds were able to jump start and shorten the time frame and we have this example of this project, shovel ready, as you see today."

An analysis of the Santa Maria River levee system in 1996 concluded that the current levee system (and in particular the rock revetment) did not meet the original design criteria at certain locations, and does not meet the current rip rap protection criteria at many locations. Additionally, during a recent national levee inventory, the levee was rated "poor" and FEMA subsequently drafted a revised flood map that now includes most properties in Santa Maria.

"As we complete each phase of this project we will be turning over information to the county and the city, making that documentation available to FEMA," said Col. Thomas Magness, District Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Los Angeles District, the lead federal agency on the improvement project. "FEMA then can begin to address the implications with regard to the flood mapping and the insurance requirements."

The repairs call for the strengthening of an approximately 6.5 mile reach of the existing south levee and reinforcing it with an 8-foot thick soil-cement mixture in order to address the deficiency and reduce the risk to life and property.

The project will be executed in two phases. A $10 million contract for Phase 1 was awarded to the HUBZone small business Rodney Williams Construction Company, based in Lompoc, Calif., which expects to put local people to work and begin in November. Phase 1 consists of repairs to 3.2 miles of the levee. Phase 2 is targeted for contract award in February and will consist of repairs to an additional 3.3 miles of the levee. The project is expected to be completed by 2011.

"The 100% guarantee that I will provide is that the Corps of Engineers will design and construct it to standard," Magness said. "But that standard still leaves a residual risk when that project is completed and everyone who lives behind a levee should understand there is a risk."

Santa Barbara County officials estimate the Santa Maria River levee repair project will generate more than 800 jobs and pump more than $120 million into the local economy.