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Everyone lives downstream from someone, and downstream from the South Yuba is the Yuba City/Marysville basin. Since 1950, five catastrophic floods have struck these cities on the main stem of the Yuba resulting in property destruction and loss of life. Levees broke in the 1997 floods inundating homes and businesses with water up to 22 feet deep and flooding nearly 26,000 acres. In harrowing rescues, residents stranded on rooftops were evacuated in boats and helicopters.
SYRCL is seeking ways to protect residents of Yuba City and Marysville from future disasters. After securing Wild and Scenic status for the South Yuba in 1999 which prohibits any new dams from being built on the river, SYRCL has stood by its commitment to make non-dam flood control a top priority.
SYRCL lobbied for the successful Proposition 13, the state water bond, in 2000. This bond allocates $70 million for non-dam flood-protection projects on the Yuba and Feather Rivers. An additional $20 million has been set aside to mitigate resulting impacts on fish, wildlife, and riparian habitat. SYRCL has joined forces with the Yuba County Water Agency, environmental groups, and government agencies to form the Yuba-Feather Work Group. The group's task is to evaluate potential flood-control measures.
"This is a chance for true collaboration among people who have historically not sat down and talked about substantive issues," says SYRCL's executive director Janet Cohen.
Several projects are being considered such as increasing flood-storage capacity at existing dams and reservoirs, improving the ability for these facilities to discharge water, and timing water releases through state-of-the-art weather forecasting. Levee setbacks and other watershed management techniques are also options on the table for improved flood control.
Find out more:
Fall 2001 Sierra Citizen - "Collaborative Efforts Evaluate Flood-Control Measures."
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