This Board letter provides an overview of the current status of many Delta flood, habitat and water issues affecting Yolo County. It covers four topics: California WaterFix (Section I) which includes the highly controversial "Delta tunnels" water conveyance project; regional and local flood protection issues and updates (Section II); ongoing work to ensure that the County's agricultural economy is sustainable within the Yolo Bypass and the larger region (Section III); and a Delta Program administrative update, which includes a summary of grants awarded, the proposed 2018-19 work plan and County Counsel's recommendation for a reauthorized ad hoc Board Subcommittee for Delta and related issues (Section IV). Each topic is addressed in summary fashion with an emphasis on recent developments and matters that may return to the Board for direction or action.
During the Board presentation of this agenda item, staff will review each topic briefly to highlight key areas of ongoing work—particularly on matters with the potential to significantly affect the County, such as implementation of the state and federal "Yolo Bypass Salmonid Habitat Restoration and Fish Passage Project." A graphic is included as Attachment A to aid in identifying the areas mentioned in this Board letter.
I. CALIFORNIA WATERFIX
The California WaterFix remains in a transitional phase. Most planning and environmental review work is complete, and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) approved the project on July 21, 2017. More recently, DWR announced its partnership with certain public water agencies to form of a "Delta Conveyance Design and Construction Authority" to design, contract, construct, and finance the WaterFix. Despite this, many additional federal and state agency approvals for the project remain pending, financing is uncertain, and additional design work has led to project changes that trigger additional environmental review and agency approvals. The most recent additional environmental analysis document--a "supplemental" Environmental Impact Report for certain project refinements--is discussed further below. Anticipated project construction costs have also increased over time (at least partly due to inflation), and are estimated at $17 billion in 2017 dollars (up from $14.9 billion in 2014).
Complicating matters further, the WaterFix remains highly contentious among Delta governments, local stakeholders, and environmental groups. It is the subject of an array of complex lawsuits that assert claims under the California Environmental Quality Act, California Endangered Species Act, and other laws. These lawsuits (nearly two dozen) have been coordinated with a separate proceeding initiated by DWR--to validate its proposed issuance of about $11 billion in revenue bonds--before a single judge in Sacramento Superior Court. Additionally, the State Water Resources Control Board continues to hold evidentiary hearings regarding the proposed new points of diversion (including one across from Clarksburg) included in the California WaterFix. This process has been ongoing for two years, and a separate administrative hearing process before the Delta Stewardship Council is likely to begin later in 2018.
A more detailed discussion of these lawsuits and administrative proceedings (all of which include Yolo County as a party) is appropriate for closed session discussion, as indicated on this agenda. Suffice it to say, however, that the WaterFix faces at least another 18-24 months of intense scrutiny in the courtroom and that other legal and permitting battles will likely continue for years afterward. The WaterFix will remain politically, legally, and financially uncertain for the foreseeable future.
Finally, as indicated above, DWR released a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report (DSEIR) for public comment on July 19, 2018. Comments are due on September 17, 2018. Staff request authority to send a comment letter addressing inaccurate information and associated flaws in the Transportation and Circulation chapter of the DSEIR. Specifically, the DSEIR erroneously concludes that potential impacts to pavement condition on Clarksburg-area roads are "less than significant" by misapplying the applicable standard of significance in assessing new estimates of construction-related traffic. In simple terms, the document concludes that adding several thousand additional vehicles per day to Clarksburg roads will have a less than significant impact on roads with poor pavement. This defies logic and is at odds with DWRs conclusion just a year ago that only a slightly greater amount of traffic would have a significant impact on the same roads.
The consequence of this error is that DWR may, if it sticks to this conclusion, no longer provide any funding for road reconstruction or even periodic repairs necessitated by construction traffic. This outcome is simply unacceptable. The DSEIR also indicates that DWR may no longer make any effort to coordinate construction traffic to avoid unduly affecting local residents, agriculture, and commerce, as the DSEIR proposes to eliminate all coordination with the County to manage construction traffic volumes because the slight decrease in traffic volume makes such coordination unnecessary. In numeric terms, this is equivalent to saying that because there will be only 10 times more traffic than normal, all of the safeguards and commitments DWR would offer if traffic was 11 times more than normal do not apply.
On these grounds, staff request authority to complete a comment letter for signature by the County Administrator on the DSEIR prior to the comment deadline.
II. FLOOD RISK REDUCTION
Local Flood Concerns
There are just over 215 miles of levees within Yolo County. For the most part, those levees are maintained by independent reclamation districts or the state Department of Water Resources. However the County, through its oversight of County Services Area 6 (AKA Snowball CSA), has operation and maintenance responsibilities for six miles of levee along the Sacramento River, from Knights Landing to the Fremont Weir. The County also has operation and maintenance responsibility for about one-third of a mile of levee on the south side of Cache Creek (Huff's Corner at County Road 18) just west of I-5 near the town of Yolo. Maps depicting the County's levees are provided as Attachment B.
System-Wide Improvement Frameworks
Both of these levee systems have been deemed "unacceptable" or "deficient" due to deferred maintenance, needed repairs, and the age of the levee systems. However, staff has been working with other local maintaining agency (LMA) partners on the development and approval of "System-Wide Improvement Frameworks" (SWIFs) for both systems. SWIFs are intended to allow LMAs to transition their levee systems to US Army Corps of Engineer standards over time. The SWIF for each system identifies and prioritizes deferred maintenance obligations, repair sites, and potential improvements. The SWIFs need to be approved by both the Central Valley Flood Protection Board and the US Army Corps of Engineers. Both SWIF's are awaiting formal approval by the Army Corps. Staff provides an annual status report to the Flood Board and the Army Corps for each proposed SWIF. Approval of the SWIFs will allow both levee systems to remain temporarily eligible for P.L. 84-99 assistance (federal funding administered by the Army Corps) while we correct operation and maintenance deficiencies as part of a broader, system-wide improvement to our levee systems.
CSA-6 / Snowball CSA
Though discussed and approved in previous Board actions, it is worth note that staff has obtained more than $750,000 in state grant funding for the purpose of making levee repairs and implementing a flood risk reduction study (discussed in more detail below) that will directly benefit the community of Knights Landing and the surrounding agricultural areas. For FY 18/19 those grants include:
| DWR Pipe Inspection |
$36,720 |
| DWR Flood System Repair Project |
$223,065 |
| Knights Landing Small Communities Flood Risk Reduction |
$499,000 |
| TOTAL |
$758,785 |
Huff's Corner / Cache Creek Levee System
Staff have been working with the State Department of Water Resources (DWR) to develop an agreement that would provide funding for needed repairs and upgrades to the area of County responsibility. These improvements would increase the local flood protection to 100-year flood standard and would reduce erosive pressure on the stream bank through a channel realignment. Staff will return to the Board at a later date for formal Board action on any such agreement with DWR.
Regional Flood Efforts
Small Community Flood Risk Reduction Studies
In May 2017 the County was awarded nearly $1.5M in grant funds to perform "Small Communities Flood Risk Reduction" studies for the unincorporated communities of Clarksburg, Knights Landing and Yolo. Study teams were formed in the summer of 2018 and work is underway to review and assess previous flood reduction efforts for these three communities, develop stakeholder groups, and begin the public outreach process. The community of Knights Landing had its first stakeholder open house in July 2018 (see Attachment C).
Other Regional Flood Activities
Staff will provide the Board with oral updates on the following regional flood activities:
- Lower Elkhorn Basin Setback Levee / Bryte Landfill Remediation (underway)
- Upper Elkhorn Basin Setback Levee (conceptual)
- Widening of the Sacramento Bypass Weir (underway)
- Widening of the Fremont Weir (conceptual)
- City of Woodland state and federal flood studies (underway)
- County-led Upper Bypass Feasibility Study
- Yolo Bypass-Cache Slough Partnership
- Staff participation in regional flood groups, including:
- Lower Sacramento / Delta North Regional Flood Management Planning
- Central Valley Flood Protection Board Coordinating Committee
- California Central Valley Flood Protection Association
- Agricultural Floodplain Task Force
III. AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY
Regional Effort
The Yolo Bypass/Cache Slough Region possess a bounty of agricultural crops sustained by innovative growers, supported by Yolo County's efforts to preserve and enhance agricultural productivity, and buoyed by communities increasingly supportive of sustainable local food supplies. Agriculture is consequently an essential component of our rural economy. The long-term viability of the agricultural economy is directly dependent upon the continued operation and maintenance of a robust flood protection system. When small communities are exposed to high flood risks, the performance of agricultural levees is deficient, or regulatory constraints limit the ability to rebuild damaged properties, the long-term investments necessary to sustain an agricultural economy are not made.
The agricultural economy is also dependent upon a functioning ecosystem that includes improved species recovery over time, which will ultimately reduce operational constraints for farmers. However, in making necessary flood system improvements and in implementing restoration projects, potentially adverse impacts on the agricultural landscape can occur including reduced productivity and the direct loss of agricultural lands. These losses could diminish the agricultural economy’s vitality. Because the CEQA process typically evaluates agricultural impacts once alternatives are formulated, Yolo County staff have attempted to incorporate agricultural sustainability evaluations earlier in the process.
Staff has successfully worked with both state and federal agencies to identify, evaluate, and offset impacts to agriculture in two recent project development processes: the "Yolo Bypass Salmonid Habitat Restoration and Fish Passage" (also known as the BiOps project) and "Lower Elkhorn Basin Setback Levee" projects. Staff participation directly resulted in diminished impacts to agriculture. For example, the proposed end date to inundation for the Yolo Bypass Salmonid Habitat Restoration and Fish Passage project has been directly influenced by staff and Subcommittee advocacy to ensure viable agricultural operations remain in the Bypass. In the case of the Lower Elkhorn project County staff and the Subcommittee have worked with local reclamation districts and stakeholders to identify project features that, if incorporated, would provide benefits to agriculture.
The Lower Elkhorn Basin Levee Setback Project (LEBLS) represents a pilot effort to incorporate agricultural sustainability measures in a flood protection project in a manner that compensates for unavoidable agricultural impacts. The LEBLS agricultural sustainability measures include improving local flood protection, supporting reclamation district consolidation, constructing a new corporation yard, providing long-term maintenance funding, improving the local drainage system, remediating an environmental hazard, restoring borrow sites to agricultural uses, and implementing other agricultural mitigation. Yolo County and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency (SAFCA) are working with agricultural economists to better understand the project’s agricultural impacts and benefits with the recognition that this project may serve as an important example of how agricultural sustainability can be successfully integrated into regional flood protection and/or habitat restoration projects.
Staff and the Subcommittee are working collaboratively with other regional partners through the Lower Sacramento / Delta North Regional Flood Management Plan implementation team and state and federal agencies to establish an Agricultural Sustainability Program that is consistently implemented with any regional flood protection and/or habitat restoration projects. The Program would be facilitated by the Interagency Collaborative to ensure that project proponents effectively work with local agencies and affected landowners to identify how agricultural sustainability measures, including agricultural infrastructure improvements, could be integrated into the project design prior to initiating environmental review. This Program will also include the development of tools that could be used to compare a project’s agricultural impacts to the benefits achieved by including agricultural sustainability measures in the project design. The intent is to ensure that agricultural sustainability is consistently considered in project development and is one of the benefits necessary to achieve a truly multi-benefit project. An additional goal is achieving sustainable improvements in the agricultural economy through implementation of the overall program.
Yolo Bypass Effort - Drainage and Infrastructure Improvements
In 2014 the Board approved a County led study called the "Yolo Bypass Drainage and Infrastructure Improvements Study". That study is available on the County's website here. The study identifies drainage and water infrastructure improvements in the Yolo Bypass that benefit farmers and wetlands managers, as well as proposes actions to increase the availability and enhance the quality of data related to these improvements. Yolo County proposed the study to address potential impacts on agriculture and wetlands of proposals by the California Natural Resources Agency and the U.S. Department of the Interior to increase the frequency and duration of inundation in the Yolo Bypass for seasonal fish habitat. While these improvements will not fully address potential impacts, they will help reduce drainage times, improve water delivery, and otherwise increase the likelihood the Yolo Bypass will continue to support multiple important land uses, including agriculture, in the future.
Since the study was completed in 2014 several projects have been identified that are being implemented or are likely to be implemented in the near future such as the Lower Elkhorn Setback levee, the widening of the Sacramento Weir, and the selection of a preferred project for implementation of the Biological Opinions. All of these projects will change the hydrology and assumptions that went into the 2014 study. Therefore, staff has identified funding from the State Water Contractors Association in the amount of $196,500 to fund a comprehensive update to that study. The proposed Memorandum of Agreement, including the scope of proposed work, is provided as Attachment D to this staff report for the Board's consideration.
An update to the study is part of the County’s ongoing efforts to document land uses in the Yolo Bypass, analyze potential changes to land uses as a result of fish habitat proposals, and suggest actions to ensure successful integration of land uses. Staff recommends that the Board authorize County Counsel to enter into the MOA with the State Water Contractors Association.
IV. DELTA / FLOOD PROGRAM ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATE
In order to align with the County's Strategic Plan and its transition towards results based accountability, staff prepared a draft FY18/19 work plan for the Delta and Related Issues program for the Board's consideration. The work plan (Attachment E) takes into consideration several factors; 1) the timeline of various local, regional, state, and federal planning processes and projects, 2) staffing and fiscal resources, and 3) prioritization of potential detrimental impacts to the County's agricultural, economic, and water resources.
Staff's recommendation is that most effort over the next year be directed to the following matters:
- Complete County-led feasibility studies for Clarksburg, Knights Landing, and Yolo,
- Secure funding and implement improvements to Cache Creek and Knights Landing levee systems,
- Integrate regional agricultural sustainability strategies into existing and future state/federal projects,
- Coordinate and influence project selection for implementation of the Biological Opinions and related ecosystem restoration efforts, and
- Participate in ongoing hearings and litigation related to California Waterfix.
Program Budget and Grants
The recommended budget for the Delta and Water Resources program is $1.933M for FY 18/19. Of that, $231,500 is general fund revenues with the rest of the revenues coming from the following sources:
| Funding Source |
Amount |
| Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency funding (SAFCA) |
$125,000 |
| Small Communities Flood Risk Reduction grants (DWR) |
$980,000 |
| Westside Tributaries grant (CA Dept of Fish & Wildlife - Year 3) |
$200,000 |
| River Parkways grant (CA Natural Resources - Year 3) |
$200,000 |
| State Water Contractors funding |
$196,500 |
| TOTAL |
$1,701,500 |
It is anticipated that staff will return to the Board with future budget augmentation requests as grant funding or direct funding agreements are realized.
Delta and Related Issues Subcommittee Review and Recommendation
As the Board is aware, an ad hoc subcommittee on Delta issues has existed since about 2010. Its membership and purpose have varied over time, and the committee scope needs to be updated. Accordingly, Attachment F describes the approved scope and timeframe for the ad hoc subcommittee. As none of the state or federal actions described in that document have been met, staff propose to simply extend the duration of the subcommittee through 2019, which will align it with the current timeframe for most of the projects described therein (including the proposed California WaterFix refinements that are the subject of the DSEIR, discussed above). This approach should ensure that the ad hoc subcommittee has sufficient flexibility to handle a range of evolving issues in a manner that complies with Brown Act requirements applicable to such subcommittees.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Board:
- Receive an update on Delta flood protection, habitat, and related issues affecting Yolo County;
- Approve Memorandum of Understanding with State Water Contractors Association (Attachment D) to fund an update to the County's 2014 Yolo Bypass Drainage and Infrastructure Study;
- Approve the proposed Delta program work plan for 2018/19 (Attachment E); and
- Reauthorize an ad hoc Board Subcommittee for Delta and related issues (Attachment F).
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