Lower San Joaquin Levee District

The project was designed and constructed by the State Department of Water Resources between 1959 and 1966.  The project's purpose is to provide flood protection along the San Joaquin River and tributaries in Merced, Madera, and Fresno Counties.  The plan  covers 108 river miles, contains 191.5 miles of levees and protects over 300,000 acres.  The project is a series of bypasses built to collect San Joaquin flood flows, as well as floodwater from the Kings River system.  The bypasses divert flows around stretches of the San Joaquin where constrictions impaired its capacity.  The Levee District, in accordance with its agreement with the State Reclamation Board (this agency is now called the Central Valley Flood Protection Board), is obligated to maintain not only the bypasses, but the channel of the San Joaquin River within the project, in a condition where the channel will carry flood flows in accordance with the maximum benefits for flood protection.