Leaks point to importance of inspecting local levees

Klamath Falls Herald and News Editorial

June 3, 2008  

    The break in the Geary levee two years ago and the resulting flood rang the alarm about the  potential damage from old levees in the Basin. The leaks discovered 10 days ago near Moore Park are a worrisome reminder of the threat.

    The Geary break in June of 2006 flooded 2,000 acres and destroyed part of Highway 140. It caused millions of dollars in damages, including temporarily taking out several holes of the Running Y golf course and giving the restaurant there a lake-front view.

    The leaks discovered near Moore Park Marina No. 2 are nowhere near that scale. But they’re certainly a cause for concern in a land of dikes, rivers and shallow lakes in one of the most complex water systems in the United States .

    The leaks near Lakeshore Drive are along a dike built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1927 and now the responsibility of the Lakeshore Garden Drainage District, which has about $2,000 in its coffers. 

    There are about a dozen homes in the area at risk, and the potential damage is about $1.8 million.

    The situation is still being evaluated. The water in the leaks is running clear, which means it probably isn’t eroding the dikes further.

Corps responds

    The Corps of Engineers has sent a team for technical support, but says the dike wasn’t designed for flood control so isn’t eligible for the Corps’ inspection program. That needs to change.

    The Corps has been attentive to the current problem, met with local officials Monday and wants to work with them toward a long-term solution that may include financial help.

    That’s certainly a welcome change from the time of the Geary dike break, when it discovered that the Corps and Klamath County had been involved for years in a bureaucratic snafu that did no real harm as long as there were no dike problems.

    Each year, the Corps would send a letter to the Klamath County public works department making it aware of the dike inspection program. The public works department isn’t responsible for dikes, but didn’t tell the Corps that. And the Corps never inquired why a county with as many miles of dikes as Klamath — 45 miles on Upper Klamath Lake alone — didn’t participate.

    We hope that kind of communication problem can be considered ancient history now. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, who has been a strong advocate for Klamath County , should do what he can to keep the problems of dikes and levees on the Corps’ front burner.

    The situation points to the importance of dike inspections. Such things haven’t attracted attention in the past because dikes seldom failed. It had probably been three decades prior to the Geary break since the last significant one, which was limited to farmland on the east side of Upper Klamath Lake.

    It shouldn’t take another major break to remind everyone about the potential damage. One  expensive, dangerous warning should be enough.

    Inspections should become an ongoing maintenance chore for those responsible for the levees. Making sure they get done needs to become a part of ongoing local public policy. 

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Source:  http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2008/06/03/viewpoints/

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