Improving Natomas Basin area levees

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, is ramping up work on the Natomas Basin area levee improvements.

“This is the season for springing forward, and we’re fully embracing that concept by ramping up work on area levee improvements,” said USACE in their latest announcement.

Construction at the Natomas Reach B project site includes installation of a turnout-outlet to control water flow, a pump at the lift station which will return heavy rain and floodwaters back to the Sacramento River and the creation of a deep-water channel, or hibernaculum, to create habitat that will help protect endangered Garter Snakes.

Sacramento’s Natomas Basin is one of the most at-risk areas in the nation for catastrophic flooding.

Improvements to Natomas levees were originally authorized as part of the Corps’ American River Common Features project in 1996, intended to improve the system of levees throughout the greater Sacramento area.

Since then, the scope and cost of Natomas levee improvements have increased after high water events in 1997 and 2006 showed serious underseepage in the basin.

In 2010, a post-authorization change report was completed detailing the Corps’ recommended plan for improving Natomas levees.

In fact, the project to improve the 42-mile ring of levees surrounding the basin was authorized in 2014.