Four local agencies received a financial boost today with the help of Yuba Water Agency.
Yuba County inundation mapping - $65,000
A $65,000 grant provides funding for Yuba County to procure flood and levee inundation maps and associated products, providing critical information for emergency response efforts for the safety of the people who live and work in Yuba County.
This work is the result of lessons learned from the Oroville spillway incident evacuation and it will provide Yuba County with better tools to inform the implementation of evacuation routes and procedures, and to help prioritize specific areas of impact, depending on the type of flood event.
$25,000 will be used to obtain an updated, hardcopy set of potential levee breach locations in the Yuba County region. The remaining $40,000 will be used to study the feasibility of a real-time flood inundation mapping tool that could potentially be used to simulate complex levee failure modes for training purposes and for managing actual flood events.
These products will support Yuba Water’s flood protection mission through improving coordination and the effectiveness of emergency response efforts during flood events.
Camptonville Community Services District drinking water system repairs - $51,000
Yuba Water Agency also approved a grant for the Camptonville Community Services District to help repair its drinking water system.
The structure that the district uses to deliver water to the community of Camptonville, known as the Campbell Gulch diversion structure, sustained damage from high creek flows as a result of major rain events.
The $51,000 grant provides funding for the district to plan, design and determine the cost for repairs to the structure, which will help ensure that the community’s drinking water won’t be compromised by another high-flow event.
Yuba Water Agency is able to fund these repairs because it will help ensure a sustainable water supply for Camptonville’s residents.
Yuba County Sheriff’s Department environmental crimes investigations - $30,000
A $30,000 grant provides funding for the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department to investigate environmental crimes related to the cultivation of marijuana within the Yuba River watershed.
The funding will specifically be used by the department to conduct searches of potential grows, limiting illegal water diversions and further damage to the Yuba River caused by the harmful chemicals that are often used.
Yuba Water Agency is able to provide these funds because it will help improve water quantity and quality in the Yuba River.
Wheatland Fire Authority rescue equipment - $10,000
This grant will help the Wheatland Fire Authority purchase a self-bailing raft and a special multipod system, which will allow first-responders to create high ground when it is not available.
This new equipment will enhance the department’s rescue capabilities and improve its efficiency when responding to water-related emergencies by alleviating the need for responders to enter the water.
Like all Bill Shaw Grants, the agency is able to make these funds available because the first-responders may be called upon to provide emergency support to Yuba Water Agency’s facilities and staff, or to people recreating at its lakes or on the Yuba River.
Yuba Water Agency’s Bill Shaw Rescue Equipment and Training Grant Program, which was created in 2018, is designed for first-responder agencies in Yuba County and will cover the one-time costs of up to $10,000 per applicant annually, associated with the purchase of rescue equipment and specialized personnel training. Since its inception, the program has supported 14 agencies with $178,500 in grants.