Supervisors approve $15 million contract with state for Middle Creek Restoration Project
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – The long-running Middle Creek Restoration Project, which is designed to massively reduce sedimentation and nutrient load in order to improve Clear Lake’s health, took another step forward this week.
On Tuesday morning, Lake County Water Resources Department Director David Cowan presented to the Board of Supervisors a contract between the Lake County Watershed Protection District and the California Department of Water Resources to fund a portion of the contract. The discussion begins at the 2:19:00 mark in the video above.
The contract provides $15 million – or $5 million per year for three years – for the purchase and maintenance of properties as part of the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project.
During last week’s budget hearings, Cowan had updated the board on the pending arrival of the revised contract.
The project’s purpose is to remove failing levees and return about 1,600 acres of farmland between the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff and Upper Lake to Clear Lake in an effort to remove sedimentation and phosphorus loading.
Cowan said that on July 17, 2018, the board adopted a resolution to accept $15 million in grant funds from the California Department of Water Resources.
Since then the terms of the contract have been updated, the most significant of them relating to the clarification of funding sources, specifically, that the Department of Water Resources will fund the project through direct expenditure and grants from the Safe Drinking Water, Clean Water, Watershed Protection, and Flood Protection Act, and the Disaster Preparedness and Flood Prevention Bond Act of 2006, according to Cowan.
Cowan said when the original agreements were drawn up, maintenance of the properties to be purchased through the program weren’t considered. He said that has since been revised.
Other changes include clarification of the state’s total contribution, which through this latest agreement and a previous contract total $27,954,000; changing of the grantee from the Lake County Flood Control and Water Conservation District to the Lake County Watershed Protection District; and removal of a $240,000 district cost share.
Cowan said that, once the board approved the agreement, the district would begin to purchase more flood-prone properties from willing sellers in the project area.
His written report to the board noted that his department’s current staff allocation doesn’t provide for a project manager, but the 2019-20 Water Resources Department budget proposal includes the addition of a Water Resources coordinator and technician. If approved by the board, Cowan’s report said those positions would be partially allocated to the project, with Cowan to serve as the project manager in the interim.
Coalition advocates for project
Along with Cowan, Peter Windrem, a member of the steering committee for the 160-member Middle Creek Restoration Coalition, spoke to the board about the project, giving them an update on the progress and praising Cowan for his efforts.
“The coalition wholeheartedly supports this contract,” said Windrem.
He explained that the Scotts Creek and Middle Creek watershed are the main water sources for the project. The water coming from those watersheds are the source of 70 percent of the sediment in Clear Lake, which feeds algae.
“What I first want to emphasize is the urgency of this project,” said Windrem,
Showing them a map of how the US Army Corps of Engineers will construct the project, he explained that the watersheds’ historic channels will be restored. The levees will then be breached and water will spread out over the entire area.
“Here is the urgency: The levees are by all accounts about to fail,” he said.
If they fail, it will be in the southern project area. Windrem said the project is designed so that, farther to the north, the water from Middle and Scotts creeks will enter the restoration area, it will slow down, and the sediment – which contains phosphorus, a nutrient that it’s important to reduce – will drop out. “That’s the hydraulics of it.”
However, if the levee breaches to the south, there will be no sedimentation capture because water is not being diverted into the area, which will become a bayou.
If that happens, Windrem said the county couldn’t take advantage of the water filtering and nutrient reduction that experts say needs to happen in order to help Clear Lake.
In order to fix such a scenario, the levees would have to be rebuilt and “staggering quantities” of water would have to be pumped out of the area, Windrem said. It would then need to dry out, the channels would need to be restored and the levees would have to be breached again, as they were supposed to be.
Such a process, he said, would be “horrifically expensive” and there’s no money to pay for it. Windrem called such a scenario an “ecological disaster” that the county would be stuck with for decades – if not forever.
“That could happen next winter,” said Windrem, noting the project has had its ups and downs for 20 years, and can’t wait another 20 for it to be completed.
He said it’s really audacious that the county has taken custody of Clear Lake, a national treasurer. “This is not a local issue. This is not a state issue. This is a national issue. That’s what that lake is. We tend to think of it in terms of local consequences, but it is much more than that.”
Windrem said that, in 2004, the water district signed a contract with the US Army Corps of Engineers for breach of levees and restoration of what was historically called Robinson Lake to its pre-levee condition.
The contract says the Army Corps will do this work and pay for 65 percent of the cost of restoring those levees, but the district is responsible for the “LERRDs” – land, easements, rights of way, relocation of people within the district and disposal of excavated material, he said
Windrem said there are 99 parcels in the project area, with more than 60 property owners. The initial
He said the Lake County Watershed Protection District also is responsible for seeing that Highway 20 is raised between the casino and Upper Lake, about a quarter of a mile of roadway. There also are seven towers for high transmission Pacific Gas and Electric power lines that must have their foundations reinforced, at an estimated cost of $1 million per tower, plus the bridge on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff must be replaced due to the anticipated channel change.
The project has three phases, Windrem said: Predesign, where the project is currently; the design phase; and construction phase. Estimated design costs are $3.2 million, with the district required to raise 25 percent, or $800,000.
A total of $33.8 million must be raised for the project, Windrem said, of which $18.8 million is secured. The California Department of Water Resources has covered the land purchase, Caltrans may handle the Highway 20 improvements, but it’s not yet clear what the source of the money is for the PG&E towers, the new bridge or design.
“The district must provide the leadership for this project. No one else does,” said Windrem, explaining that there are federal, state and local officials that need to be engaged in the work.
He also emphasized that for the project to happen, there must be a dedicated project manager for the district, someone who can work on the government relationships.
Windrem said time is of the essence, as the district only has three and a half years to buy the remaining properties and spend the $15 million. It took 14 years to spend the previous $12 million from the state.
Cowan said the coalition has done the lion’s share of the work on the LERRDs.
“The project is the hook that everyone’s hanging their hat on as far as reduction of phosphorus levels,” Cowan said, adding, “It’s not just a standalone project, it fits well with many other projects that are ongoing in the lake to improve water quality.”
Supervisor EJ Crandell asked if a project manager is needed immediately or if the county can develop more of a discussion.
Windrem suggested the project manager be someone hired on a contract basis, not a county employee.
“The project cannot succeed without someone to be able to take on that responsibility,” he said, adding, “We’ll do our part to support it, but it’s big.”
Supervisor Rob Brown said the amount of hours put in by volunteers on the project over the years is unbelievable, and the county couldn’t have afforded it. He thanked Windrem for the work the coalition has done.
Crandell moved to approve the agreement, which the board approved 5-0.
That discussion was followed by a related item – approval of a bid for $87,927.52 from Lamassu Utility Services Inc. from Benicia to clean and inspect 40 culverts within the Middle Creek flood control system. The project is grant funded.
The board approved the bid with a 5-0 vote.
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