The army corps’ national levee database contains information on more than 1,600 federal, state and local levees in California and paints a picture of the communities those structures protect: more than 5 million Californians live behind levees, which protect about 3,000 “critical structures”, like schools, fire stations and electric substations and about 750,000 acres (303,514 hectares) of agricultural land.
Two of the major players in levee management in the Golden state are the US army corps of engineers, which has a hand in managing approximately 2,300 miles (3,701km) of California levees, and the state, which manages about 1,550 miles (2,494km) of levees, mostly in the Central valley.
First, there was Donald Trump’s executive order to release billions of gallons of water from two reservoirs in California’s Central valley, a move the feds walked back after farmers and water experts decried it as wasteful, ill-conceived – and an unnecessary risk factor for levees in the region.
While levees are a common part of California’s infrastructure, Willis said, it’s important to remember that they’re just human-made structures trying to hold back a powerful force of nature, whether that’s an atmospheric river or 2bn gallons released from reservoirs with little warning.
Even though the Central valley’s levees seem to have withstood the water that flowed after Trump’s surprise executive order, the brief surge put stress on an already precarious system, Willis said.
