Getting Ball Rolling to Control Flooding : A Sense of Urgency Needed for Santa Ana River Job

Anyone who is knowledgeable about the prospect of a 200-year flood on the Santa Ana River knows that the 20-year, $1.5-billion flood control project is vitally important to Orange County.

Though it is difficult to imagine in a drought period such as this, the Santa Ana River has been identified by U.S. Army engineers as the worst flood threat west of the Mississippi. If the river were to breach its banks, a flood could devastate the 100-mile river basin in three counties, including parts of 10 Orange County cities. There are other grim estimates: An area of 110,000 acres would be flooded to an average of three or four feet. Two million people’s lives would be disrupted and losses are projected at 3,000 lives and $14.5 billion in property damage, mostly in Orange County.

It is, the experts say, a disaster waiting to happen.

For 20 years, local, state and federal representatives have been working in concert to gain approval of funds for the project. That hasn’t been easy, given the budgetary woes in Washington and Sacramento. Finally, last year, however, the federal government, which has committed to pay $1 billion of the project, authorized the first $65 million for actual construction. It’s the state’s turn to come up with its initial payment--$32 million.

But this has been a year of drought in government as well, with revenues falling far short of earlier estimates. Caught in a painful vise, with many essential programs and services deeply cut, legislators approved the state budget a record 28 days late. To the astonishment of many, it contained Santa Ana River project funds up to the last minute, but not for long. Gov. George Deukmejian blue-penciled them. He proposed that they be included in a statewide water bond measure to be put before voters Nov. 6.

But so far, the Assembly and Senate votes necessary to put that measure on the ballot have been delayed amid horse-trading over the governor’s housing proposal and other issues. Meanwhile, the legislative session is scheduled to adjourn Aug. 31.

Assuming the water-bond measure is approved for the ballot, the general wisdom is that voters will approve it, as they do most such measures. But in these jittery economic and political times, nothing is a sure thing. There is also the question of whether it is wise to add another bond measure to the state’s financial obligations. The best that can be said is that that is a question that we hope the voters get to decide.

The importance of the Santa Ana River project, however, is not in question. When completed, it will include a new dam that also will store much-needed water in drier times such as these. Among the other facets of the project will be raising Prado Dam by 30 feet, enlarging the lower Santa Ana River channel, and acquiring and restoring a 92-acre wetland. As a whole, the endeavor is the largest single project in the Federal Water Resources Development Act.

When completed, the flood control project is designed to prevent floods such as those that occurred in 1862--the nation’s 14th largest flood--and in 1938. But while Orange County was mostly fruit groves in those days, now there are 500,000 dwellings and many thousands of businesses that would be inundated in the event of such a flood. That cannot be allowed to happen.

It’s hard to create a sense of urgency about a catastrophic flood when rain seems both remote and, in these dry times, even desirable. That is exactly what local legislators need to do, and quickly.