County plans to improve canals

An ambitious improvement project is planned for two of the city’s

longest flood-control canals.

Engineers with the Orange County Flood Control District plan to

expand the capacity of the Wintersburg channel in North Huntington

Beach and the Oceanview channel in the south part of town. The move

will increase storm protection in low-lying areas and allow

homeowners to drop costly flood insurance, project manager Phil Jones

said.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has eight options on the

table to improve the 15.5 miles of coastal outflow channels running

as far inland as Orange and Anaheim.

Flood control officials are recommending the least expensive and

least environmentally intrusive proposal: a $132-million plan to

replace the mostly slope-walled channel with vertical walls and a

mostly natural bottom to allow for tidal flows in and out of the

channel.

Area environmentalists said they are concerned about the outflow

of the canal, which would release water into a portion of the Bolsa

Chica wetlands.

Several endangered species live in the outfall area of the

Wintersburg channel. Environmentalists say the presence of water

doesn’t concern them as much as the velocity of the water during a

heavy rainstorm.

To slow down the water before it reaches the wetlands, engineers

plan to install several ripraps along the channel, which will act as

speed bumps for the water, slowing its speed by diverting it in

several directions. Jones said his agency also plans to work closely

with the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect endangered

species of animals and plants.

The channels were first built in the 1960s to handle a 10-year

storm, Jones said.

“The prevailing thought of the time was that when the [flood]

district acquired additional funding, the channel would be lined with

concrete and upgraded to full 25-year conveyance capacity,” he said.

Most of the land at the time was agricultural, Jones said, and the

ground was much more capable of absorbing water. As Huntington Beach

continued to develop, the influx of concrete and asphalt left few

places for water to soak in, significantly increasing the amount of

flood runoff to the channel.

Certain low-lying areas of Huntington Beach are still considered

part of the 100-year flood plain, Jones said, and current Federal

Emergency Management Agency regulations require all nearby homeowners

to buy costly flood insurance.

Jones said the district has made the “Wintersburg channel its top

priority and challenge -- to transform a former agricultural ditch

into a 100-year regional flood control facility and remove the

adjacent 100-year flood plain.”

Funding for the project will come from the district’s capital

improvement budget, generated mostly from property tax receipts. The

project must be approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors

and the city councils of the communities along the channels.

QUESTION

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