Representative Grace Napolitano, center, points to a map inside the Whittier Narrows Dam as she and other representatives from the House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment take a tour of the dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
With other congressional members at her side on Friday, Napolitano, D-El Monte, began her effort with a tour of the dam near Lincoln Avenue in Montebello.
Representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Lieutenant Colonel Malia Pearson, Program Manger for Los Angeles county drainage area, speaks to representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment as they take tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
John Desimone, dam operator for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, speaks to representative from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment as they tour the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Colonel Aaron Barta, center right, Commander and District Engineer with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , speaks to representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment as they take a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Lieutenant Colonel Malia Pearson, Program Manger for Los Angeles county drainage area, points out Whittier Narrows Dam on a map as representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Representatives from the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment took a tour of the Whittier Narrows Dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
Representative Grace Napolitano, center, points to a map inside the Whittier Narrows Dam as she and other representatives take a tour of the dam in Montebello, on Friday, March 6, 2020. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released plans to spend $393.2 million on the Whittier Narrows Dam as part of its Dam Safety and Seepage program. (Photo by Trevor Stamp, Contributing Photographer)
“I want to get the members to understand the necessity of dealing with California’s issue with water,” she said, referring to members of the House of Representatives House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment that she chairs.
“We’re getting more money, so we can take care of the dam,” she said.
Napolitano said she believes the tour impressed at least some, including U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who is chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. That’s the subcommittee that will determine the fate of the proposal to spend the nearly $400 million.
“She understands it better,” Napolitano said.
Napolitano is now drafting a letter to Kaptur, requesting the money, Napolitano spokesman Jerry O’Donnell said after the tour.
The proposal to fix the dam comes after a 2016 decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reclassify the dam to “very high urgency” because if something does go drastically wrong during a major storm, the water would spill downstream into homes at a rate of three Olympic-sized swimming pools every second.
A re-inspection revealed a greater threat of erosion and breach.
Col. Aaron C. Barta, commander and district engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the change was made not based on the problems with the dam but rather the potential consequences of a flood.
“This is a safe dam, but downstream are millions of people, so consequences of failure are very high,” Barta said.
If a storm were to bring the reservoir to its capacity, then the water would overflow the concrete spillway and send up to 276,000 cubic feet per second of water downstream, overflowing the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo river banks and affecting the communities of: Artesia, Bell Gardens, Bellflower, Carson, Cerritos, Commerce, Compton, Cypress, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, La Palma, Lakewood, Long Beach, Lynwood, Montebello, Norwalk, Paramount, Pico Rivera, Rossmoor, Santa Fe Springs, Seal Beach, South Gate and Whittier.
Since then, Napolitano, along with other nearby congressional representatives, including Judy Chu, D-Monterey Park, and Linda Sanchez, D-Norwalk, have been pushing the Army Corps of Engineers to make the Whittier Narrows Dam a priority. Both were also present Friday.
Others who took the tour included R.D. James, assistant secretary of the U.S. Army, and U.S. Reps. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, and Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas.
This story was edited to change the name of House committee to Transportation and Infrastructure.
