Dana Maurestad lives each day unaware of how federate and state mandates affect her life. Each day, Dana drives over the Kansas River -- commuting to and from Downtown Lawrence -- rarely noticing the levee filtering water outside of her car window. Her home at Sixth and Lyon streets sits just one mile north of the river and the levee. Due to the close proximity, if that levee were to break, Maurestad’s house would go under water, rendering her daily route to work impassible.
To make certain that residents like Dana Maurestad stay safe and dry, the Lawrence Department of Public Works and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers check the Kansas River levee ever year. The latest test, conducted late last month, looks for potential problems such as erosion and the current functionability of flood gates.
Until recently the annual inspection was sufficient. However, a state mandate released in 2006 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is requiring the city of Lawrence to take a closer and more costly look at its levee.
In a two-year project that began last month and is estimated to total over $200,000, the city of Lawrence must conduct a series of extensive tests on the levee. The tests will not directly affect the safety of the levee, but will provide FEMA with data on the levee’s location, structural integrity and the status of various elements required for federal certification.
Although the testing is required by FEMA, no funding is given to local municipalities. So the large and unexpected cost of additionally testing the levee comes directly out of Lawrence’s pocket. Unfunded mandates such as this one significantly affect the city, costing invaluable amounts of time and money each year.
An unfunded mandate, like the one FEMA placed on the Department of Public Works to access the levee, occurs when a higher government body requires a lower government body to carry out specific actions without providing any funds for that purpose.
“We might get a lot of unfunded mandates each year but we’ll still never get used to them,” said Charles Soules, director of public works for the City of Lawrence. “I’ll always complain because they are unplanned and usually unwanted but we have to comply.”
There are no set regulations as to how a mandate is created. Some are bills passed in the state Legislature, others, like the levee mandate, are based on newly created government programs. Most often, mandates are created in response to a previous event or problem.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levees breaking in Louisiana in 2005, FEMA created the National Flood Insurance Program. Through this program, FEMA tracks flood patterns and creates a nationwide floodplain map. The map is designed to provide the people living and working behind the levee with appropriate risk information so they can minimize damage and loss of life. For Dana Maurestad, this program may be able to provide her with some relief.
“After Katrina, I was really worried because I live so close to the levee,” she said.. “I know we don’t get hurricanes here but it still made me doubt how strong those things really are.”
While Maurestad sees the program as a comfort, the engineers at the Lawrence Public Works Department see it as less of a relief and more of an inconvenience.
“It’s frustrating because we know that our levee is really safe,” said Matt Bond, the department’s stormwater engineer. “Our annual testing is very thorough and if it can hold for the flood of ’93, we know it works well.”
While the public works department knows the levee is safe, it must comply with the mandate. The task to collect the data is so large that the department will have to contract engineering firms to help. Part of the data requested by FEMA was a reading to make sure that the levees are packed correctly and with the right materials.
To gather these readings, holes must be drilled into the levee. Material will be pulled out and then analyzed. Based on previous collection data, the cost to drill one hole is $15,000. The Federal government is requiring a hole to be drilled every few hundred yards of the levee. The Kansas River Levee is over 11 miles long. The cost for the holes to be drilled is likely to tally approximately $200,000.
The $200,00 projected total cost of the mandate will come out of the Department of Public Works budget, much to the dismay of department officials.
“We could’ve taken that $200,000 and used it to fix a street that is crumbling beneath the feet of Lawrence residents but instead we have to check a levee that we know is safe,” Soules said. “We have issues that we need to address and now we might not be able to get to them.”
Full compliance with the mandate will make the Kansas River Levee fully accredited by the new FEMA standards. Failure to become an accredited levee will not financially affect the city of Lawrence, but may impact residents that live around the levee.
If a levee does not become accredited by the new FEMA mandate standards, the area around the levee becomes remapped as a high-risk flood zone. Those residents, such as Dana Maurestad, who live in the high-risk flood zone, will likely have to pay for drastically increased flood insurance.
“Would everyone in the city see the effects of higher insurance rates? No. It depends on where you live, but not complying definitely has the prospect to have a huge impact on the people that live around the levee,” Bond said.
The average annual premium for a house in the high-risk zone (with the average house value at $150,000) is a $911 annual fee. In Mauristad’s case, her current premium for flood insurance is $520 per year. Living in a zone deemed to be high risk for flooding would almost double that annual premium.
“While the federal government might have a good goal in mind, it’s not cheap for anybody involved,” said Tony Wheeler, Director of Legal Services for the City of Lawrence. “Luckily, we’re a thriving community. For other cities, unfunded mandates can be devastating.”
Fortunately for Maurestad and other Lawrence residents, the Department of Public Works is ready and willing to fully comply with the mandate. The department is willing to spend whatever money necessary to become fully accredited.
“It comes with the territory,” Soules said. “We have to do what they ask for no matter what the cost. We never want to put our residents in jeopardy.”
The city has until June 18, 2009 to comply with the mandate and collect all data. Until then, the city commission will have to figure out how to reallocate the money that is needed for the project. While Dana Maurestad sees the levee a little differently now on her drives to work can surely rest easy. Regardless of the FEMA mandate results: the Kansas River Levee passed the September 19 inspection with flying colors.