‘Living river’ rejuvenates Napa, brings needed flood control

Apr 30, 2017 at 2:00pm

John King, SF chronicle

But here’s the crucial detail. It works, improving the local landscape and economy in ways no traditional solution could have achieved.

That success is relevant far beyond Napa’s boundaries, amid the attacks this year on California’s efforts to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles via high-speed rail, or the creed in Washington that environmental considerations are bad for business. For all the inevitable hurdles and sniping along the way, the projects that deliver the most benefits often are the ones that dare to imagine a future different than the past.

When this rainy season’s biggest storms hit the Bay Area in January, Napa’s year-old Oxbow bypass was put to the test. It passed with flying colors.

Waters from the Napa River surged over the willow-fringed bank of the bypass, spilling across young lawns and a plaza into recently restored wetlands, where they collided with the amplified rush of Napa Creek.

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