Federal funding set for Santa Ana River

Paul Clinton

Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Chris Cox have successfully lobbied

President Bush for continued federal funding of the 20-year Santa Ana

River flood control project.

Bush has included $19.8 million in funding for four such projects

in his budget covering the 2003-04 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.

The money would, local officials hope, be used to remove Orange

County’s flood-plain designation that requires homeowners to shell

out at least $800 per year for flood insurance.

Rohrabacher (R-Costa Mesa) and Cox (R-Newport Beach) are also

readying a second round of funding requests for other local

environmental projects. Those would need to be submitted by the end

of the month.

Among those in Bush’s budget include a $15.7-million outlay to

build dams and shore up levies in the river. The federal government

has been funding a 20-year effort to protect Costa Mesa, Huntington

Beach, Fountain Valley and other communities that would be hit hard

in the event of a 100-year flood.

“Anything they can do will certainly help eliminate what seems

like a nonsensical flood plain [designation],” Huntington Beach

Councilwoman Debbie Cook said. “Every time we have rain, we have

flooding here.”

Significant portions of Huntington Beach, and some parts of Costa

Mesa, lay in a flood plain, putting many neighborhoods in those

cities at risk during a catastrophic flood, Rohrabacher spokesman

Aaron Lewis said.

Other funding for river projects includes $3.8 million for

flood-control efforts in the river basin, which extends beyond Orange

County’s borders to Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside

counties.

Bush is also requesting $150,000 for an environmental restoration

survey of the river basin and $150,000 for an environmental survey of

the upper Santa Ana River watershed.

The congressmen must, by the end of the month, submit any

additional requests for funding. The second round of funding would be

included in an appropriations bill from the Veterans Administration,

Housing and Urban Development, and Energy and Water committees.

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].