FEMA’s remapping program has required local agencies to collect technical data to continue levee certification. FEMA underestimated the time it would take for state and local agencies to gather the information needed to recertify levees. As a result, FEMA modified their process to provide an additional 24 months to gather the needed documentation to demonstrate compliance with current federal standards through a Provisionally Accredited Levee (PAL) agreement. 

Local agencies have signed and submitted PAL agreements to FEMA for the levee sections identified on FEMA’s Levee Status Map.  FEMA designates a levee as a PAL when there is sufficient evidence to conditionally show that a levee will provide a 100-year level of flood protection. 

SJAFCA prepared and submitted PAL compliance documentation in the form of Letters of Map Revision (LOMR) to satisfy FEMA's levee accreditation. Below is the list of levees for which LOMRs were submitted to FEMA:

• Levees east of Shima Tract (P375, P378 and P379)

  • submitted to FEMA April 28, 2009

  • accredited by FEMA December 30, 2009

• Fourteen Mile Slough Levee, north bank, east of I-5 (P124)

  • submitted to FEMA August 20, 2009

  • accredited by FEMA June 2, 2010

• Lower Calaveras River (P454, P356, P357, P140, P1401)

  • submitted to FEMA March 26, 2010

  • accredited by FEMA January 21, 2011

  • included in the LOMR are reports for certification of P359 within the jurisdiction of Reclamation District 1614.

  • P359 accredited by FEMA January 21, 2011

• Walker Slough

  • submitted to FEMA March 26, 2010

  • accredited by FEMA January 21, 2011

SJAFCA also completed an Interior Drainage Study Report for use by Reclamation District 404 in their PAL accreditation efforts.

 SJAFCA’s Levee Accreditation Efforts