MARYSVILLE, Calif. (Aug. 19, 2026) – A pilot research project between Yuba Water Agency and the University of California is exploring new ways to monitor the health of Yuba County’s levees and identify potential problems before they become larger maintenance issues.
Using a $360,000 grant from Yuba Water awarded in 2024, researchers with the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS) spent the past two years deploying new technologies and sensors across 18 monitoring sites along the Feather and Bear rivers and Dry Creek in southern Yuba County. The sites are located within reclamation districts 784 and 2103, which help reduce the risk of flooding for the communities of Linda, Olivehurst, Plumas Lake and Wheatland, as well as the surrounding commercial and agricultural areas.
CITRIS leverages the research expertise of several different University of California campuses, including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz.
“Despite the devastating flooding we experienced in 1986 and 1997, today Yuba County has some of the most modern urban levees in the state thanks to hundreds of millions of dollars in local, state and federal investments,” said Sami Nall, Yuba Water’s flood risk manager. “But we want to feel the same confidence in the integrity of the system in 25, 30 or even 50 years from now. Protecting that investment means continuing to monitor the health of our levees, using the best tools available and with proactive maintenance. That’s exactly what this research is helping us do.”
Using technology to see more, sooner
In an update to Yuba Water’s Board of Directors Tuesday, CITRIS researchers explained how they used drones equipped with LiDAR and other sensors to create highly detailed 3D models of levees, while ground-based sensors and surveys verified information collected through aerial surveys. The goal is to help levee managers monitor long stretches of levees more efficiently and provide additional information to guide field inspections and maintenance in the future.
Researchers highlighted two specific examples of how levee managers can use their research for improved monitoring and maintenance:
- Identifying animal burrows: Animal burrows can weaken levees and are a common challenge faced by local levee and reclamation districts. Researchers used detailed aerial data to find areas with potential burrow clusters, which could help maintenance crews target locations for closer inspection and more timely repair.
- Identifying hidden seepage: Conditions beneath a levee can be difficult to assess through traditional inspections. By combining aerial and subsurface data, researchers can help levee managers flag areas that may warrant a closer look. This type of monitoring could help prioritize areas for further evaluation or targeted maintenance before visible signs of distress develop.
The research can also be used to create a “digital twin” of some levees that can be updated over time, giving levee managers a clearer picture of how the system is changing and how they’ll potentially handle future storms and high water events, which in turn can inform long-term maintenance decisions. “Levees are complex systems that change,” Nall said. “The more information we have about their condition, the better equipped we are to maintain them and help protect the communities that depend on them for years to come.”
Although Yuba Water does not own or maintain any of the levees in Yuba County, it works closely with the local levee and reclamation districts that do, providing coordination and funding support for monitoring, maintenance and more. “We look at this as an additional tool to enhance what is already a very robust maintenance program,” said Patrick Meagher, general manager of Reclamation District 784. “We’re not going to stop walking the levees because we have technology. But this is another way to ensure the levees stay safe, secure and structurally sound.”
Yuba Water’s board members encouraged staff to develop a recommendation about how to expand the technology to other Yuba County levees in the future.
“Anything that gives us a little more confidence and security in our levee system is really a great benefit,” said Renick House, Yuba Water board director and Yuba County supervisor for District 2. “Having grown up in Arboga, which suffered significant flooding in 1997, there is no question that having this information at our fingertips is invaluable.”
Explore the preliminary digital twin platform at leveedigitaltwin.org. Learn more about Yuba Water’s continued commitment to reducing flood risk for the people of Yuba County at yubawater.org. Learn more about UC CITRIS at citris-uc.org.