Board considers water sale extension

Nov. 1—Months after the Yuba Water Agency Board of Directors approved the sale of excess water to other water districts in the state, the board will consider an extension of that approval at this morning's board meeting in Marysville.

On Dec. 7, 2021, the water agency's board gave the OK to transfer at least 10,000 acre-feet of water to Contra Costa Water District and East Bay Municipal Utility District from its New Bullards Bar Reservoir to help in times of severe drought.

Because of the 2008 Yuba River Accord, Yuba Water is able to "transfer water that is released into the lower Yuba River for fishery benefits after it reaches the confluence of the lower Yuba River and the Feather River," according to staff.

Officials with Yuba Water have stressed that any water sold to other districts is not water that would otherwise have been used by those in Yuba County. Essentially, water that would be transferred is water that is already currently being released for the benefit of fish.

DeDe Cordell, Yuba Water communications manager, said the water involved with the transfer is "not new water" and it doesn't change how the agency operates.

"It's water we already release for the fish and some of it can be transferred to others in need who are dealing with the drought," Cordell said.

Yuba Water staff said there would be "no significant environmental impacts."

Up for consideration today is an amendment to the Yuba Accord Environmental Impact Report. If approved, the agency would be able to transfer at least 10,000 acre-feet of water "with the potential for additional volumes during the spring and summer of 2023, 2024 and 2025," staff said.

"The primary purpose of the amendment is to extend the term of the existing agreement through December 31, 2025," according to a Yuba Water staff report.

The transfer, which will be priced at "agreed-upon market rates," was part of a three party agreement that was proposed by Yuba Water between it, East Bay Municipal Utility District and Contra Costa Water District.

"This is a great opportunity for us to provide water to other communities in need during the drought, and bring in additional revenue for Yuba County water projects," Yuba Water Agency General Manager Willie Whittlesey previously said. "This agreement does not change the way we operate or how much water we release at all. It's just a change in where a relatively small portion of the water we are already releasing goes. We would be releasing this water for fishery benefits in the lower Yuba River, anyway, and this agreement will allow us to bring home even more benefits for Yuba County."

Southern Yuba County

Also up for consideration today is the granting of $9,000,000 to the Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority (TRLIA) so that the money can be leveraged as a local match against state and federal funds for additional flood risk reduction efforts in the southern portion of Yuba County.

"As the Three Rivers Levee Improvement Authority (TRLIA) is scaling down its operation in South Yuba County, it has been working with Yuba Water, Yuba County and RD 784 to finalize and close the State of California Proposition 1E source funding that made the levee projects in South Yuba County possible," according to a Yuba Water staff report. "However, several projects remain to expand on the levee work in South Yuba County that are identified in Yuba Water's Comprehensive Flood Management Plan, which is expected to be finalized over the next few months. Two of those projects are the Climate Resiliency project and the Goldfields Multi-Benefit Project."

The Climate Resiliency project involves additional levee work on the Yuba, Feather, and Bear rivers to provide "substantially more protection" to residents. Yuba Water said that once completed, it will "increase the level of protection from the current 200-year to 300-year, and again from 300-year to a 500-year level of protection when operated in conjunction with the proposed ARC Spillway," a controlled structure being developed for New Bullards Bar Dam to prevent floods from occurring downstream.

"More importantly, the Climate Resiliency project also addresses an anticipated revision to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) levee standards that could potentially make the levees constructed over the past 20 years obsolete," the staff report said.

The Goldfields Multi-Benefit Project is intended to address the 100-year embankment in Goldfields that is expected to need a permanent replacement as Teichert continues to mine the area, Yuba Water staff said.

"The existing embankment is in an area expected to be depleted by mining, and more permanent work will be necessary to continue protecting South Yuba County from the Yuba River," the staff report said. "Consistent with Yuba Water's mission to help leverage local funds toward protecting the people of Yuba County from flood risk, TRLIA is requesting local match funding to leverage State funds to complete the design of the Climate Resiliency project and prepare a feasibility study for the Goldfields Multi-Benefit Project. TRLIA is also asking for Yuba Water's assistance in committing additional local match funds for the potential implementation of the project using Federal funds through a competitive FEMA grant program."

Yuba Water said the cost of the Climate Resiliency project is about $38,000,000. FEMA funding through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program requires a 30% local cost share, or $11,400,000.

"However, because DWR (California Department of Water Resources) has agreed to reallocate TRLIA's remaining Proposition 1E funds toward the final design of this project, DWR's portion, $2,612,000, would be applied to the local cost share associated constructing the project through the BRIC program. The overall local share cost, with the addition of $110,000 cost for applying to the grant, would effectively reduce the local share from $11,400,000 to $8.9 million," the staff report said. "In summary, the combined cost share of $8,900,000 for the Climate Resiliency Project and $75,000 for the Goldfields Multi-Benefit Project Feasibility Study, TRLIA is asking for, and Yuba Water staff recommends, $9,000,000 from Yuba Water. The local match funding will allow TRLIA to design and construction [sic] the Climate Resiliency project and address an anticipated vulnerability that will occur in the Goldfields with the Goldfields Multi-Benefit Project Feasibility Study. The design and potential implementation of the projects will provide a clear path toward unprecedented levels of flood protection to the urban areas in South Yuba County by leveraging State and Federal dollars 4 to 1 over our local cost share."

The Yuba Water Agency Board of Directors will meet at 9 a.m. this morning at 915 8th St. in Marysville.