Using technology to look at the levees is a good idea.
Eye in the sky to peek inside urban levees
Imaging device dangling from copter will reveal soil condition and water seepage.
By Matt Weiser - Bee Staff Writer
Published 12:00 am PDT Tuesday, September 4, 2007
It's not a raid by clandestine forces. It's not a top-secret mind-control or surveillance experiment.
No, that strange helicopter you'll be seeing over Valley cities for the next month is peeking inside levees.
Starting Thursday in Yuba City and then working south through Sacramento, West Sacramento and Stockton, the state Department of Water Resources will use a new technique to survey urban levees in the Central Valley: aerial electromagnetic imaging.
Officials are notifying the public because the sight might be alarming: A helicopter will dangle a 30-foot-long imaging device that resembles a missile.
The device will hang about 100 feet below the helicopter, which will fly over levees about 30 mph. The technology has never been used on California levees before, said Elizabeth Scott, DWR spokeswoman.
