L.A. River Flood Control Plan

The editorial, “Build the River, Not Walls” (March 23), would lead a reader to believe that alternatives to planned improvements to Los Angeles County’s flood control system have not been considered or taken seriously. That is simply not correct. In fact, the U.S. Corps of Engineers and L.A. County Department of Public Works carefully analyzed the proposals offered by Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR). Here are some of their findings:

-- The FoLAR proposal is not an engineering study. There are none of the hydrological models required for such projects. In short, the FoLAR proposal is little more than ideas with virtually no scientific support.

-- The project suggested by FoLAR does not provide the required protection against a 100-year flood. To even compare it with the county’s plan, described in the Master Environmental Impact Report, the corps had to make several additions and modifications to the FoLAR plan to bring it up to the 100-year standard.

An example of this problem is FoLAR’s recommendation that Whittier Narrows Dam be raised 3 feet to 5 feet in order to achieve the “no release” capability, which is the basic premise of their proposal. Engineering analyses show that the dam must be raised 7 feet to 9 feet. It would require millions of dollars in additional cost to not only raise the dam, but contain the higher water levels behind it.

-- Another FoLAR recommendation calls for widening and deepening the lower 6.5 miles of the Los Angeles River. To achieve the required flow capacity in this scenario, the river would have to be widened 300 feet to 400 feet beyond available vacant land, requiring the acquisition and demolition of homes on the first adjacent street along 3 miles to 5 miles of river frontage, on both sides, in Long Beach. Do we have any volunteers who would like to give up their homes?

Overall, the FoLAR plan would cost anywhere from $400 million to $1.2 billion, compared to a current projected cost of $312 million. Where are those additional funds to come from? FoLAR doesn’t know and neither does Los Angeles County.

Lost in all the talk of alternatives is the fact that time is running out for residents of the flood plain. If the project described in the Master Environmental Impact Report is not approved next month by the County Board of Supervisors, federal money allocated for construction could disappear. That would leave residents and businesses in the affected area with expensive, mandatory flood insurance and a “de facto” building moratorium that would wreck already struggling local economies.

DIANE P. BOGGS

Downey City Council

LACDA Alliance Representative