Contractor Scrambles to Plug the Gap in California Levee Repair Effort
The failure of the Middle River levee near Stockton June 3 submerged over 12,000 acres of farmland in up to 20 ft of water. The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services estimates $93.7 million in damage to crops, buildings, and levees, including $48.7 million for repairs, restoration and dewatering. President Bush declared a federal disaster on June 30.
Functioning like dams, the levees protect land located at or below sea level, says Curt Schmutte, chief of levees and the North Delta Branch, California Department of Water Resources. Complicating maintenance, the levees were originally constructed without compaction or drainage. Many rest on peat foundations subject to deformation that, in turn, causes the levees to settle and deform. "Unfortunately were engineering structures over the top of non-engineered structures," Schmutte says. More than 150 levee failures in the Delta have been recorded since 1900.