Blog note: this article
references a recent report by the Santa Clara County Grand Jury.
At the
northern reaches of Santa Clara County, marshes once lined the San Francisco
Bay. As our community grew, the bay shoreline transformed, and a majority of
the wetlands were lost to fill or alteration. Marshes gave way to ponds
employed in salt production for more than 100 years.
Now, the
Santa Clara Valley Water District is working with state and federal partners to
restore the marshland habitat that can support a wide variety of wildlife and
help protect our valley from tidal flooding. The water district understands
that the shoreline doesn't stop at city boundaries and is taking a coordinated
regional approach to address flooding and sea level rise.
In May,
the Bay Area Council Economic Institute released a study estimating the Bay
Area would suffer a minimum of $10 billion in economic damages from an extreme
storm that many experts believe is overdue. The damage would be severe along
the bay's waterfront land, where companies from Facebook to Google employ
hundreds of thousands of workers, 355,000 residents have homes, and key
economic and civic infrastructure is located.
A recent Santa Clara County
Civil Grand Jury report also investigated sea level rise and recommended that
local jurisdictions work together to guard against it. As a leader in flood
protection in Santa Clara County, the water district shares this concern and
appreciates the grand jury's call for action. We are already working on this,
and will continue to partner with local, state and federal agencies to protect
local communities.
The water
district is a partner in the multi-phase South Bay Salt Pond Restoration
Project, an effort to restore the wildlife, habitat and natural flood
protection offered by tidal marshes. The project has three goals: habitat
restoration, flood protection and recreation. Restoring the marshes generally
occurs by breaching former salt pond levees and allowing the tide to bring
sediment-laden water inside the ponds, building up the elevation so that marsh
vegetation grows.
Many of
the salt ponds cannot be breached until a flood risk management levee has been
built. In phase one of the salt pond project, which was recently completed,
most places that could be breached without causing more flood risk were
breached and restoration is ongoing. Phase two would continue the breaching and
restoration of more ponds that would not increase flood risk.
To protect
the community, the water district is working with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers and the State Coastal Conservancy to plan, design and construct a
flood risk management levee, restore the shoreline habitat and provide
recreational opportunities. This project, called the South San Francisco Bay
Shoreline Study, must be completed before phase three of the salt pond
restoration can be carried out.
This levee
would protect the community against 100-year tidal events, which are tides that
have a 1 percent chance of occurring in a given year. It would also protect
against the sea level rise predicted for 50 years from now.
Recreational
opportunities will be provided through trails and viewing areas that connect to
the Bay Trail system, so all can enjoy this unique part of Santa Clara County.
To help
pay for the shoreline study and its identified projects around the nine-county
Bay Area region, the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority is considering a
$12 per parcel annual tax for 20 years, tentatively scheduled to appear on the
June 2016 ballot.
To learn
more about this important issue, visit southbayrestoration.org. The Bay Area
Council report can be found here:
bayareacouncil.org/issues-initiatives/storm-flood-protection.
August 13, 2015
San
Jose Mercury News
By Richard
Santos, Santa Clara Valley Water District
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