California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced that it is awarding $50.4 million for 18 flood management and protection projects across the state. The funding will support flood planning and will help implement flood risk reduction projects related to stormwater, flooding, mudslides, and flash floods.
“This funding will help vulnerable communities across California protect their citizens, property, and infrastructure from increasing flood risks and help prepare for the new climate extremes we are facing,” says Gary Lippner, DWR’s deputy director of flood management and dam safety. “As we have seen from recent flooding events across the country, floods can strike communities at any time. DWR is proud to work with our community partners to increase their flood and climate resilience at the local level.”
The department says that, although California is entering a fourth year of drought, it’s necessary to prepare for the increased risk of flooding that growing climate extremes can bring.
The projects funded in this latest round include 13 implementation projects and five planning and monitoring projects. Highlights of today’s funding recipients include:
- Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority: $9.7 million to improve flood protection on the Yuba River for up to a 200-year flood event, which will reduce the risks of flooding to a broad area, improve habitat, and protect downstream levees.
- Merced County Department of Public Works: $5 million to provide flood protection for up to a 200-year flood event within the lower Black Rascal Creek watershed. The protection will consist of a detention basin, spillways, channel modifications to Black Rascal Creek, habitat enhancements, and drainage facilities.
- City of Santa Ana: $5.6 million to improve flood protection and treat stormwater and urban runoff with biotreatment systems as part of the Warner Avenue Flood Protection Project and the Rousselle Street Flood Protection Project.
- Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Zone 7: $4.6 million to reinforce the bank of Alamo Creek as part of the Alamo Creek Bank Stabilization Pilot Project, which will reduce flood risks, address future inland climate change impacts, improve water quality, and enhance fish and wildlife habitat.
- City of El Monte: $4 million to relieve persistent flooding at Garvey Avenue and improve stormwater quality and water supply.
- Sacramento River West Side Levee District: $9.3 million to improve riverside floodplain and mitigate levee seepage while supporting migratory salmonids, improving aquatic habitat, and reducing local erosion.
A full list of the funded projects is available here.
The funding was awarded through the Floodplain Management, Protection, and Risk Awareness (FMPRA) Grant Program. DWR says that the funding prioritized economically disadvantaged community assistance, multi-benefit project features, and flood risk reduction projects in a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) special flood hazard area.
