Outlook Improves for Orange County Flood Control

Two multimillion-dollar dam projects in West Virginia may help Orange County squeeze $20 million out of Congress to finally begin construction of the long-delayed Santa Ana River flood-control project.

Approved 2 1/2 years ago, but not yet financed, the Santa Ana River project has been designated a top priority by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The agency has declared the Santa Ana River the worst flood threat west of the Mississippi.

Last year, the House of Representatives, seeking to trim the federal budget deficit, decided against financing any of the agency’s new water projects, including the Santa Ana River venture.

But this year, officials working to get financing for the massive Santa Ana River undertaking, which is expected to cost nearly $1.4 billion and take years to complete, said they are encouraged about the prospects for beginning construction in the 1990 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

“Last year, for fiscal year ‘89, Congress did not fund any new projects. We believe that was only a one-year policy,” said David C. Kenyon, acting chief of the programs division of the Army Corps of Engineers’ civil works directorate.

“I am very optimistic that we will end the moratorium on new starts this year,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-Sacramento), a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s energy and water subcommittee.

One reason for the new optimism is the corps’ inclusion high on its proposed funding list this year of two projects in West Virginia--$17.9 million to replace an old dam-and-lock system on the Monongahela River and $20.8 million for a similar project on the Kanawha River.

Those two projects, which were not in last year’s proposal, are expected to provide a special incentive to a key player in the funding process, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), to clear the logjam over new money for flood control. Byrd is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the energy and water subcommittee.

“That was smart thinking on their (the corps’) part,” said James F. McConnell, Orange County’s lobbyist in Washington.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Highland), a leading supporter of the Santa Ana project, said, “I’m not sure that the corps has (made) those sorts of links.” However, he added: “Stranger things have happened in the business of making sausage.”

Expresses Reservations

Approval by the Senate Appropriations Committee is seen as a major hurdle for the project. Last month, Sen. Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.), ranking minority member of the Senate panel, publicly expressed reservations about beginning new water projects if long-term financing cannot be assured.

Supporters of the project believe that the House will be more receptive to flood-control fund requests.

Members of Orange County’s congressional delegation said Fazio and Lewis are leading the lobbying push for the Santa Ana River project, which is designed to ease the danger of disastrous flooding in Lewis’ San Bernardino County district, as well as Orange County.

The Corps of Engineers has estimated that in the kind of flood disaster that might occur every 200 years, the rising river could kill as many as 3,000 people and cause as much as $11 billion in property damage over its 100-mile course from the mountains in San Bernardino County to the ocean near Newport Beach. The river slices through about 30 miles of Orange County’s most densely populated urban areas.

During recent hearings before the energy and water subcommittee, Lewis urged the panel to approve $32 million to begin the flood-control work. That request was endorsed by the full Orange County congressional delegation.

‘Tremendous Help’

“We’ve had tremendous help from the members” from Orange County, Lewis said.

Officials expect that in the next week or two, the subcommittee will receive word from the full Appropriations Committee on how much money it may spend on water projects. Once that figure is known, prospects for the Santa Ana project will become clearer, officials said.

“Although a number of members have requested that we appropriate more for the project than (the $20 million) in the President’s budget, it is too early to determine whether we will be able to augment that amount,” Fazio said.

Rohrabacher, in an interview, said he has repeatedly raised the issue with the subcommittee chairman, Rep. Tom Bevill (D-Ala.). “The man who’s got more leverage on this knows firsthand that we’re going to have thousands of our citizens dead if this doesn’t go through,” Rohrabacher said.

Lewis said: “I consider it to be a crucial year as far as the project’s chance of coming forward. The next four or five years don’t look easy in terms of budget considerations.”

Could Begin Building Dam

The $20 million requested this year would allow the corps to begin constructing a new dam in San Bernardino County on the upper Santa Ana River, to be called the Seven Oaks Dam, and pay for other preliminary engineering and design work. The new dam would be 550 feet high.

A quarter of the $20 million would pay for acquisition of wetlands near the mouth of the Santa Ana River to provide protection for two birds--the California least tern and Belding’s sparrow, whose habitats would be endangered by the project.

Eventually, the project would raise the level of Prado Dam by 36 feet to accommodate storage of an additional 195,000 acre-feet of water and upgrade flood channels along the Santa Ana River and Santiago Creek. Included would be major improvements to the Talbert Channel, the failure of which led to widespread damage in the 1983 floods. Some channels would be lined with concrete, while others would be graded and widened.

All but $364 million of the total project cost of nearly $1.4 billion would be paid by the federal government.