Downstream

Dallas better hurry and fix their levees. Water, among other things, flows downhill.

Read the latest about the tests and studies for the Trinity River in the Dallas Morning News.com.

$25 million for testing for a $100 million worth of repairs.  Levees in Fort Worth could supposedly be fixed for $9 million.  Sounds like a bargain, ask why it's now a billion.

“From our perspective and the team’s perspective, it is very achievable,” said Col. Richard J. Muraski Jr., commander of the corps’ Fort Worth district.

That should come as good news to property owners along the river, who have grown increasingly concerned about the effect of the uncertainty on their property values.

Getting drawn into a flood plain would lead to increased insurance rates and make it difficult or impossible to obtain building permits and certificates of occupancy.

The race to restore the levees began in February 2009, when the corps rated them unacceptable for basic flood protection. The city spent more than $25 million to test the levees and devise a plan to upgrade them.

In April, with the plan still unfinished, city officials briefed the City Council on a preliminary plan to go forward with $100 million to $150 million worth of fixes.

But by August, when the city presented the plan to the corps, officials there had updated their criteria. To the frustration of city officials, the corps decided some of the methods used to test the soil samples had been inadequate. They wanted more tests.