Posted on November 26, 2024
SOUTH EL MONTE, Calif. — Representatives from seven Southern California counties met with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District partners to share updates and best practices Nov. 7 at the LA District Baseyard.
The annual forum, called the Seven Counties Flood Control Directors Meeting, invites agency leaders and specialists to gather in a spirit of partnership and open communication to share information on regulatory and policy matters related to flood-risk reduction, water conservation, environmental and infrastructure issues, and to discuss the winter weather outlook.
The coalition, which was originally formed to help advocate for the region in the wake of national-level policy changes after Hurricane Katrina, has since expanded its scope to discuss all matters related to flood-risk reduction and water resources in Southern California.
Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties comprise the coalition, along with the National Association of Flood and Stormwater Management Agencies, which serves as the coalition’s coordinator and facilitator.
The counties, all of which are members of NAFSMA, have been meeting annually with the LA District for more than a dozen years. When combined, the seven counties’ area covers more than 43,000 square miles, is home to more than 22 million residents and holds 32 congressional seats.
These seven counties have united for this effort because they all have similar weather patterns, land-use history, transportation needs and geographic features, which differ from many other parts of the U.S.
“The Southwest is unique, including California, in that we have very arid and semi-arid climates we’re dealing with,” said Jason Uhley, general manager and chief engineer with the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. “When you think of Riverside County — the Palm Springs community in particular — it’s as arid as Dubai. That doesn’t exist anywhere else in the nation. In the rest of the country, they have rivers that flow year-round, like the Mississippi and the Chattanooga.
“Our river systems are arid and ephemeral,” he added. “They only really flow when it rains. That makes our challenges very different from what the rest of the country sees.”
Uhley said the meeting is important to the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, and the Seven Counties group as a whole, because it gives everyone a chance to exchange information about opportunities and challenges the partners are jointly facing, and it provides them ways to work through those together.
“How do we magnify the good things we’re doing, and how do we improve the things where we’re facing challenges, so we can do better in the future? That open communication about what’s working and not working helps us all serve our communities,” Uhley said.
One example is the recent changes to USACE’s vegetation management policy for federally constructed levees in the region.
“This group started that discussion when we talked about the uniqueness of levees across the nation and the need to have a policy that recognizes regional differences,” he said. “That discussion started here and ballooned out.”
Uhley said the group’s discussions over the years have also improved members’ abilities in obtaining Section 404 and 408 permits and to pursue projects more efficiently.
“There’s been a number of incremental and game-changing shifts to policies and procedures that have made all of our lives better,” Uhley said. “At the end of the day, we want to make sure we’re all rolling in the same direction, at the same time and the same cadence, to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep our communities safe.”
Juan Zuniga, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District program manager for the Levee Safety Program, discusses the Public Law 84-99 Rehabilitation Program and the levee inspection process Nov. 7 during the 2024 Seven Counties Flood-Control Directors Meeting at the LA District Baseyard in South El Monte, California.
