Generating funding to maintain and upgrade California’s aged and extensive flood management infrastructure is a key challenge facing the state, according to a report this month from the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). The flood management infrastructure was not designed to account for evolving statewide goals, scientific knowledge or conditions, notes the March 22 LAO report. The funding challenge is especially great at the local level where state constitutional provisions constrain the ability to generate additional tax and assessment revenues. Balancing flood risk with expanding population and development is another key challenge for both state and local governments, the report comments. With state population growth comes a push to develop into new areas, but development in flood-prone areas increases the potential for flood damage. The report also cites “overlapping and fragmented” flood-related responsibilities among local, federal and state governments for complicating flood management efforts and making implementation of flood projects “especially protracted and difficult.” 2017 Flood Damage Earlier this year, the Governor declared a state of emergency in 52 of the state’s 58 counties due to damage from winter storms and flood. As the report points out, exceptionally high precipitation caused localized flooding, mudslides, flood warnings and road damage throughout the [...]
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