Emergency Planning for Bay/Delta
Levee Failures
Technical Working Group Formed
An ABAG Technical Working Group to Evaluate Bay Area Levee Hazards and Planning Options has been formed in response to statewide reports and analyses that describe serious threats to water supplies from earthquake and flood hazards in the Delta, and predict an unprecedented calamity for the Delta region under certain conditions. The working group's first priorities will be to assess funding and technical resources, and identify collaborative opportunities for emergency planning purposes as part of a mitigation plan to address predicted hazards.
Failing Infrastructure Identified as Major Problem
Scientists and engineers have stated that Central Valley and Southern California communities would experience a "domino effect" from failing infrastructure. We can also surmise that the same serial collapse of supply systems would hit the Bay Area equally hard. Water supplies would be cut off; travel interrupted; power, fuel and goods transport limited - thereby limiting other essential services for families, government, commerce and industry.
Key infrastructure at risk in the Bay area includes:
Roads - Highways - Marinas - Port facilities - Utility transmission lines - Water lines - Railroad lines - Sewage and water treatment plants
Other Bay-centered levee problems have emerged in the broader Delta levee discussions. South Bay levees, for example, protect a significant part of the Bay shoreline and southern Sonoma County levees protect a wide swatch of agricultural lands. Marin County and San Mateo County urban development in low lying areas is protected by levees (sometimes constructed of redwood).
Five Bay Area counties (Alameda, Napa, Solano, Contra Costs and Santa Clara) would be highly impacted by water supply interruptions and the Bay/Delta would sustain serious environmental damage from massive flooding
ABAG Initiates Funding Proposals to Protect Impacted Infrastructure with a Sustainability Emphasis
To make an emergency planning and action program possible, ABAG staff has proposed funding for emergency planning and environmentally sensitive implementation through the CalFed Delta Levee Integrity Program, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the lead. The proposal incorporates environmental protection strategies to ensure project success. These include sediment analyses, and a storm water management and watershed-based approach that emphasize how low-impact development and other measures upstream can help mitigate serious flooding hazards.
Some Factors Influencing Levee Stability
- Earthquakes
- Flooding
- Inadequate engineering
- Soils conditions
- Storm surges
- Burrowing
- Inappropriate vegetation
- Lack of emergency personnel and equipment
- Lack of maintenance
- Sea level rise/global warming
Contacts for Technical Working Group
Jeanne Perkins, Earthquake Hazards Program Manager, ABAG
JeanneP@abag.ca.gov, 510-464-7934
Kathleen Van Velsor, Senior Environmental Manager, ABAG
KathleenV@abag.ca.gov 510-464-7959
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