Great concept for those areas that have the land configuration to use it, which unfortunately doesn’t exist along the Lower American River with its current build out.
What we need for water control is the Auburn Dam.
An excerpt.
New levee in Yuba gives river more room
By Deb Kollars - Bee Staff WriterPublished 12:00 am PST Thursday, November 2, 2006
There are various ways to control flooding from rivers. Build taller levees. Park a dam upstream. Engineer a bypass channel to divert waters running high.
Or, instead of trying to pen in a river, give it more room to flow.
On the winding Bear River in Yuba County, work is wrapping up on a new stretch of levee that gives the river a wide band of land alongside it where water can spread out should flooding occur.
At two miles, it is the biggest "setback" levee in California. It replaces an older levee with erosion problems that sat near the river and was removed this past summer.
In the process, about 600 acres of open space were created for plants and animals.
"This is the river now," said Ric Reinhardt, a principal engineer with MBK Engineers of Sacramento, pointing to the new open area.
According to state and national flood experts, setback levees are a wise way to manage flood risks -- if the land and the money are available to build them.
