County Again Seeks U.S. Seed Money for River Flood Project

The Santa Ana River is deceptively dangerous.

For most of the year, it is a river in name only. As it slices its way about 30 miles through the heart of urban Orange County, it is alternately an earthen channel and concrete culvert, lacking any appreciable water flow. Even when it rains, the river’s personality often comes to life for only short periods before the runoff passes and the river bottom is exposed again.

Yet this benign-looking river is considered a sleeping giant capable of horrific destruction should a powerful rainstorm strike.

The flood threat has been well documented on Santa Ana River from a 200-year rain--defined as a calamity with an expected recurrence of once every 200 years on the river, or one chance in 200. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the river poses the worst flood threat west of the Mississippi. And the agency has proposed a massive $1.3-billion plan of improvements along the entire length of the 100-mile river, which flows through three Southern California counties before emptying into the Pacific north of Newport Beach.

All River Plan

The package of flood control measures, known as the All River Plan, has received national attention because of its price tag and scope as the largest public flood protection project in the United States.

Although Congress has approved the project, so far it has not provided funding, prompting Orange County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder to warn: “With each day that passes, we are tempting fate, and that is scary.”

In a worst-case scenario, based on an estimated 15 to 20 inches of rain falling on the river in 4 days, an estimated 3,000 people would be killed and $11 billion in property would be damaged from flooding along the river in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties. Hardest hit would be Orange County, where a 160-square-mile area below Prado Dam near Corona would be under as much as 5 feet of water.

Current flood control measures on the river were built to withstand only a storm of the magnitude that occurs about every 70 years.

The proposed All River Plan would increase the storage capacity of Prado Dam by raising its height 30 feet, building a smaller upstream dam at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains, and improving the Santa Ana River channel and its tributary, Santiago Creek. Together, these would give urban Orange County and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino protection from a 170-year flood.

Wednesday Appearances

To secure “seed money” for the project--about $20 million to begin land acquisition to widen the river and construction of a new dam upriver from Orange County--a delegation of local county officials is scheduled to testify Wednesday before the House and Senate subcommittees on energy and water development. The two subcommittees ultimately will recommend to the full appropriations committees of the House and Senate whether the $20-million allocation for the Santa Ana River flood plan should be included in the federal government’s 1990 fiscal budget.

A year ago, President Reagan included the $20 million in his 1989 budget proposal. But members of Congress, citing the spiraling deficit, decided not not to fund any new water or flood control projects, including improvements along the Santa Ana River.

Before leaving office, Reagan again put $20 million for the Santa Ana River project in his 1990 budget package. His successor, President Bush, endorsed the expenditure by leaving it in the budget blueprint he submitted to Congress after taking office in January.

The House and Senate energy and water development subcommittees are expected to issue recommendations on a range of projects under consideration sometime next month. Even if the two subcommittees support funding of the Santa Ana River project, final approval of the expenditure won’t be known until later this year, when Congress adopts its budget for fiscal 1990, which begins Oct. 1.

Although Wednesday’s hearings in Washington are only the first steps in a lengthy process, Orange County officials believe that they are critical to securing money for the Santa Ana River project.

“The recommendations of those subcommittees are extremely important because they may tell us whether we are finally on our way,” said William Zaun, Orange County’s director of public works.

Whether the Army Corps of Engineers will win funding approval to begin work on the Santa Ana River project is a matter of some debate.

‘Looks Promising’

Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento), the only Californian on the energy and water development subcommittee in the House, says “it looks promising,” primarily because Congress recognizes “the importance of the project, and understands the need to start it now before the cost becomes too prohibitive.”

Republican Rep. C. Christopher Cox, whose 40th District includes several Orange County cities that would suffer flood damage from the Santa Ana River, said prospects for funding are “excellent.” He predicted that the project will receive bipartisan support.

“I don’t see any congressional Democrats cutting back on projects like this,” Cox said.

But James McConnell, Orange County’s lobbyist in Washington, is more cautious when assessing the project’s chances.

“It’s extremely tough to handicap,” he said. “We thought we had a good chance last year, then boom, we were left out of the budget. It’s a very long and, at times, frustrating process.”

$240-Million Price Tag

Of the total cost, local government must pay about $280 million for the All River Plan. As the county expected to receive the greatest benefit from the flood protection project, Orange County’s share is estimated at about $240 million.

Orange County Supervisor Don R. Roth said the county has raised about $120 million for the project, and has spent another $15 million on survey work for the project, acquiring private property to widen the river channel and construction of new street overpasses on the river.

“If a sign of good faith is spending one’s own money, we’ve definitely done our share,” said Roth, whose northeastern district includes a portion of the river. “I will make it clear that we have demonstrated beyond a shadow of the doubt that this project is important to us.”

The two subcommittees have allotted just 3 hours each on Wednesday to take testimony on more than a dozen California energy and water projects seeking federal funding. Because of the time constraints, Roth is the only local official scheduled to speak on behalf of the project, although Zaun and two other top county officials also are traveling to the hearings.

Riverside County Supervisor Melba Dunlap and San Bernardino County Supervisor Barbara G. Riordan also are expected to testify before the subcommittees.