Officials secure funds to repair Santa Maria River Levee

Local officials visited Washington, D.C., two weeks ago to secure federal funding for the Santa Maria River Levee, and the trip paid off.

On Feb. 23, U.S. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) announced that she helped secure almost $6.7 million in federal funding for repairs to the Santa Maria River Levee in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act. The House was expected to vote on the funding legislation later in February.
 
If passed, the funds appropriated in the bill would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fix the levee, which the Corps determined wouldn’t be able to withstand a “100-year flood.” Last year, the Corps added the Santa Maria River Levee to its nationwide list of endangered levees.

Funds secured in the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act would most likely be channeled into repairing a five-mile section of the levee that’s been designated one of its weakest points.

If the section isn’t fixed, Santa Maria homeowners living nearby would be required to buy flood insurance because their homes are in the potential flood plain. The cost of flood insurance could vary from $320 to $2,000 per year, according to reports from city officials. The insurance requirement, however, could be lifted once the levee repairs are complete and the levee is recertified.

“This is welcome news for the City of Santa Maria, the City of Guadalupe, and the surrounding communities,” Capps said in a release to the media. “This critical federal funding is so important as we race to stabilize the levee and protect the people who live nearby and their property.”

She called the infrastructure project a “win-win” as it improves public safety and creates jobs during its construction.

In 2008, Capps, along with other local officials, secured $280,000 in federal funding for the Corps to make a preliminary assessment of the damage to the levee and determine what repairs need to be done 
to strengthen it. Also in 2008, more than $14 million in funding was secured for the project in bills passed by both the House and the Senate.