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Topic: Oroville Dam

Overview April 24, 2014

Oroville Dam

Oroville Dam is the centerpiece and largest water storage facility of the State Water Project. Located about 70 miles north of Sacramento at the Feather River confluence, Oroville Dam creates a reservoir that can hold 3.5 million acre-feet of water.

Features such as a fish barrier dam and pool at Oroville Dam made the SWP one of the first major water projects built with environmental protections as a major consideration.

Besides storing water, the dam also protects downstream residents from the floodprone Feather River—the main feeder of the SWP— and provides major water recreation facilities such as boating, fishing and camping.

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Aquafornia news January 5, 2018 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR ignores local advice on Oroville Wildlife Area rock harvest

State Department of Water Resources officials recently met with Oroville Dam Coalition members to consider their ideas for the Oroville Wildlife Area project, but announced later the same day that the department had different plans.

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Aquafornia news December 22, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: Politicians to Trump: Don’t relicense Oroville Dam until we know why spillway failed

Elected officials and other groups representing those living below the troubled Oroville Dam have asked the Trump administration to hold off on renewing its 50-year license, saying the federal government should at least know why the spillway broke in half last winter before signing off.

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Aquafornia news December 18, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Oroville Series, Part Three: Traffic during evacuation a worry for many

There were many takeaways from last February’s Lake Oroville spillway incident, but one very alarming one: a large number of Yuba-Sutter residents who evacuated said they experienced issues with leaving the area, mainly due to traffic congestion. And a startling number of residents reported that they stayed home instead of fleeing, risking their lives in the event the emergency spillway did collapse.

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Aquafornia news December 14, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam crisis sparked $1.2 billion in claims

The near-disaster at Oroville Dam last February brought damage claims flooding into the state by the hundreds – shops and restaurants that lost business, farms that got overwhelmed by surges in water, cities and counties buried in evacuation expenses. Most claims argue that the state is responsible for the emergency because it ignored warning signs about the condition of the dam’s spillway.

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Aquafornia news December 13, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Spillway Q&A: Addressing vegetation, design and cracks

The Oroville Dam spillway crisis this past February is still under investigation – all sorts of investigations, including concerns about vegetation and cracking. Officials say the problems have been mitigated, plus, this water year might not be as wet as last.

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Aquafornia news December 12, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Formerly classified memo describing Oroville Dam spillway cracks now public

The previously secret state Department of Water Resources memorandum explaining the hairline cracks in the Oroville Dam spillway is now public. The document provides more details on how Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., the contractor for spillway reconstruction, tried to reduce shrinkage, which leads to cracking in concrete.

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Aquafornia news December 11, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Skepticism abounds at DWR meeting in Yuba City

Yuba-Sutter residents voiced concerns to the Department of Water Resources over a variety of issues Thursday night, including the hairline cracks that have appeared on the reconstructed spillway, a need for more transparency moving forward, and the significant amount of sediment buildup in the Feather River brought about by the Lake Oroville incident last February and plans – or lack thereof – to clear it out.

  • Read more
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Aquafornia news December 7, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Residents tell DWR they want dam access, more answers at community meeting

Residents showed lingering distrust Wednesday night as they voiced concern about loss of access to recreation and questions about hairline cracks in the reconstructed spillway.

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Aquafornia news December 7, 2017 Associated Press

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Northern California residents blast state over dam repairs

Northern California residents living in the shadow of the nation’s tallest dam vented decades of frustration with state water managers Wednesday, telling officials they have no credibility when they say hairline cracks in a newly rebuilt spillway are nothing to worry about.

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Aquafornia news December 6, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

DWR says Oroville Dam spillway ready for winter rains

It might be another year or so until reconstruction of the main spillway at Lake Oroville is officially complete, but Department of Water Resources officials say the structure is ready for whatever this winter can throw at it, even if there are a few cracks here and there.

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Aquafornia news December 1, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Phase two of Oroville Dam spillway construction may be more challenging, contractor says

Phase two of construction at Oroville Dam — with work on both spillways — might prove more challenging than the first feat, the contractor’s project director said in a media call Thursday. … DWR [California Department of Water Resources] will hold two community meetings next week.

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Aquafornia news December 1, 2017 Associated Press

Oroville mayor lashes out over dam communications

Oroville’s mayor said Thursday she knew about cracks in the replacement spillway at the troubled dam nearby and is not concerned, but heaped criticism on state water officials for failing to communicate with her town. Linda Dahlmeier said the Department of Water Resources should have proactively communicated that cracks were expected but has instead created a “firestorm” in a community that was rattled by sudden evacuation orders last February.

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Aquafornia news November 30, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: Recreation along Feather River suffers while DWR surveys

Politicians and river guides are calling upon the state Department of Water Resources to mitigate sediment build up in the Feather River following the Oroville Dam crisis. … The state Department of Water Resources is currently assessing the impacts of sediment on the river system, with the study expected to be complete in December, said Jon Ericson, acting division chief for the division of flood management. 

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Aquafornia news November 29, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Cracks found in new Oroville Dam spillway, but officials say don’t worry

Hairline cracks have been detected in sections of the newly reconstructed flood-control spillway at Oroville Dam. State and federal officials said they’re confident the cracks don’t pose a safety problem and don’t need to be repaired.

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Aquafornia news November 29, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Cracks found on Oroville Dam’s new spillway not a concern, state says

Several small cracks have been discovered on the Oroville Dam’s newly rebuilt concrete spillway, prompting federal regulators to express concern about the $500 million construction project under way at the troubled facility. But state water officials said Tuesday that the series of millimeter-wide cracks on the surface of the main spillway pose no structural problems for the nation’s tallest dam.

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Aquafornia news November 28, 2017 KQED Public Media for Northern California

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Feds ask state to explain cracks in new Oroville Dam spillway concrete

Federal regulators have asked the officials who operate Oroville Dam — and who are in charge of the $500 million-plus effort to rebuild and reinforce the facility’s compromised spillways — to explain small cracks that have appeared in recently rebuilt sections of the dam’s massive concrete flood-control chute.

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Tour October 10, 2018 - October 12, 2018 New Stop Announced for Northern California Tour: Salmon Rearing Structures in the Sacramento River

Northern California Tour 2018

This tour explored the Sacramento River and its tributaries through a scenic landscape as participants learned about the issues associated with a key source for the state’s water supply.

All together, the river and its tributaries supply 35 percent of California’s water and feed into two major projects: the State Water Project and the federal Central Valley Project. Tour participants got an on-site update of repair efforts on the Oroville Dam spillway. 

  • David Guy
  • Christopher Williams
  • Carson Jeffres
  • Curt Aikens
  • Kelly Peterson
  • Mark Oliver
  • Read more
Aquafornia news November 20, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Recent storms raise Lake Oroville water level

The storms that blew through Northern California this week raised the water level of Lake Oroville about 4 feet, but it’s a long way from where the spillways might need to be used.

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Aquafornia news November 13, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: Coalition, politicians say D.C. lobbying trip a success

Sen. Jim Nielsen, Assemblyman James Gallagher, and members of the Oroville Dam Coalition are seeking federal assistance on issues relating to the dam they say need to be resolved. They met with commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and representatives for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

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Aquafornia news November 13, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Oroville Dam spillway was wrecked months ago; here’s where repairs stand as rain season looms

New images released by state water officials Thursday highlight the immensity of repairs made to the Oroville Dam spillway as seasonal rains begin to fall once again.

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Aquafornia news November 7, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam coalition, local politicians head to Washington for federal assistance

State Sen. Jim Nielsen, Assemblyman James Gallagher and Oroville Dam Coalition members are heading to Washington, D.C., this week to address what they say are outstanding issues following the spillway crisis.

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Aquafornia news November 7, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Congressmen want additional Oroville Dam safety review

Reps. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, and Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, Monday introduced to a bill that would require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to conduct an additional environmental review of the Oroville Dam. The congressmen would like to see a review done before the commission approves the relicensing of the dam under state Department of Water Resources’ management.

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Aquafornia news November 6, 2017 San Jose Mercury News

Rains dampen Northern California, reduce fire danger, bring snow to Sierra

The rains that swept into Northern California this weekend from the Gulf of Alaska didn’t turn out to be as extensive as forecasters had expected. … Work crews continue to repair the main spillway and emergency spillways at Oroville Dam in Butte County, which were heavily damaged in February during the massive atmospheric river storms that ended California’s five-year drought.

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Aquafornia news November 2, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam ready for rainy season, state Department of Water Resources says

The Oroville Dam flood control spillway has been fixed. … In addition, [state Department of Water Resources Director Grant] Davis said “repairs and updates” are already being made at some of the 93 other dams around California where the state ordered intensive inspections in the wake of the Oroville crisis.

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Aquafornia news November 2, 2017 Associated Press

California launches overall safety review at tallest US dam

California is launching an overall safety review of the nation’s tallest dam to pinpoint any needed upgrades in the half-century-old structure, water officials said Wednesday, launching the kind of overarching review called for by an independent national panel of experts in September following the collapse of two spillways at Oroville Dam.

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Aquafornia news October 31, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: DWR says Oroville Dam spillway will be done by deadline

Crews are laying the last layer of concrete on the Oroville Dam spillway with one day until the state Department of Water Resources’ deadline to have the structure ready to pass flows of 100,000 cubic-feet per second, or cfs.

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Aquafornia news October 25, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: DWR plans to use Gold Rush rock from wildlife area

The state Department of Water Resources plans to clear mounds of rock from the Gold Rush days at the Oroville Wildlife Area and put them to use in the rebuilding of the spillways at Oroville Dam. DWR received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to a filing made last week.

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Aquafornia news October 24, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR moves forward Lake Oroville recreational projects

The state Department of Water Resources continues to make progress on several recreational projects the Oroville Recreation Advisory Committee has wanted for years.

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Aquafornia news October 23, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Assemblyman Gallagher survey: Respondents worry more about DWR than terrorists

Survey results largely showed that respondents weren’t happy with how things went down this past February at the Lake Oroville spillways and the events that followed. Most respondents expressed their concerns were with the California Department of Water Resources.

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Aquafornia news October 20, 2017 San Jose Mercury News

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam repair costs nearly double in price to $500 million

The cost of repairing the crippling damage to Oroville Dam’s spillways caused by last winter’s fierce storms has almost doubled, state water officials said Thursday. … Jeff Petersen, project manager for Kiewit, said that once construction workers got on the site they discovered they had to dig much deeper to get down to bedrock than they had expected.

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Aquafornia news October 20, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Racing to repair Oroville Dam—before the rains come

In one of the fastest-paced civic construction jobs in recent U.S. history, hundreds of carpenters, operating engineers and iron workers are rushing to complete repairs to the damaged Oroville Dam spillway. The crews are trying to beat a Nov. 1 deadline and the Northern California rainy season, which once again will begin to fill the massive reservoir behind the nation’s highest dam.

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Aquafornia news October 19, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam flood plan calls for keeping lake lower than usual

A plan has been prepared for flood control operations this rainy season at Oroville Dam, which call for keeping the lake lower and aggressively releasing water if the water level rises above trigger points. Up to now, the dam has been operated under rules drafted by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1970, which set a maximum lake surface elevation target of 848.5 feet above sea level for November through April, and 870.1 feet in May.

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Aquafornia news October 17, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR: ‘Can’t say with certainty’ whether spillway ramp will reopen

The state Department of Water Resources intends to open the spillway boat launch ramp after construction at the dam is complete, but there is a possibility it will stay out of commission, according to a department official. The spillway boat launch is the largest on the lake, with up to 12 lanes when the water is high enough.

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Aquafornia news October 17, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

DWR plans lower elevation for Oroville heading into flood season

With just more than two weeks until the initial reconstruction of the main spillway at Lake Oroville is supposed to be completed, the Department of Water Resources released operations plan for the reservoir for this coming flood season.

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Aquafornia news October 5, 2017 Capital Public Radio

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Rebuilding Lake Oroville spillways

In February, a huge hole opened in the Lake Oroville main spillway. The cause of the hole is still undetermined. … State and federal agencies devised a plan to quickly repair or replace the structures at the lake.

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Aquafornia news September 26, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Fly right up the Oroville Dam spillway to see how repairs are shaping up (video)

This September 25, 2017 video shows progress on the Oroville Dam spillway.

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Aquafornia news September 20, 2017 Capital Public Radio

New Oroville Dam report calls for changes

A new report from a collection of environmental, fishing, and river rafting groups recommends changes to dam management following the failure of the main spillway at Lake Oroville in February.

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: What exactly will be done by Nov. 1?

Repairs to the Oroville Dam spillway are on track for the Nov. 1 deadline, state Department of Water Resources representatives say, but work will be far from over then.

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Aquafornia news September 15, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Oroville-inspired dam inspection bill racing against legislative deadline

The north state assemblyman who represents Oroville, where the threat of a dam collapse in February forced 188,000 downstream residents to evacuate, is racing to tighten inspection standards before the end of the legislative session Friday night.

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Aquafornia news September 15, 2017 KCRA Channel 3 Sacramento

Despite DWR praise, Oroville Dam critics want answers (with video)

State lawmakers responsible for the safety of residents downstream from Lake Oroville applaud the Department of Water Resources reconstruction to the dam’s damaged primary and emergency spillways, but the lawmakers still want answers and accountability for the cause of February’s near-catastrophe.

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2017 KQED Public Media for Northern California

Oroville crisis: Sheriff called emergency ‘an ugly, shitty mess’

A single photograph of rapid erosion below Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway — and an unidentified geologist’s worried question about whether the local sheriff knew how dire the situation might be — were the key events that led to the evacuation of 180,000 people living along the Feather River on Feb. 12.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Frustration, friction flashed behind the scenes as Oroville Dam emergency grew

In the confusion and chaos of the emergency at Oroville Dam, as thousands of residents were being evacuated, public safety officials and others involved in managing the crisis found themselves clashing with the people operating the nation’s tallest dam.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2017 Associated Press

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: ‘Can’t confirm. Dark’: Officials couldn’t see danger at dam

A towering spillway at the nation’s tallest dam was crumbling, and tens of thousands of people were fleeing for their lives. But as darkness fell, state officials realized dealing with the unfolding crisis in Northern California was about to get even worse: They couldn’t see.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news September 7, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Water lifting concrete slab seen as cause of Oroville Dam spillway failure

Faulty design, construction and repairs of the main Oroville Dam spillway allowed water to seep under its floor and build up, lifting a concrete slab Feb. 7 into the water flowing down the chute, starting a chain of events that largely wrecked the structure.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news September 6, 2017 Associated Press

Wednesday’s Top of the Scroll: Poor design, construction blamed in damage to Oroville Dam

Bad design and construction of the tallest U.S. dam a half-century ago and inadequate state and federal oversight since then led to a disastrous spillway collapse in February, an independent national team of dam safety experts said Tuesday as they urged tougher safety reviews nationwide.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news September 6, 2017 Redding Record Searchlight

Report: Oroville Dam’s spillway never had a comprehensive review

A team investigating the Oroville Dam spillway breach in February said it has not seen evidence that a comprehensive review of its construction and design has ever been conducted since it was built nearly 40 years ago. … Agencies like the Bureau of Reclamation, which operates Shasta Dam, do more comprehensive construction and design reviews. 

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news September 6, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

‘All there in the files’ – Oroville Dam investigators say inspectors missed clues

A team of independent experts charged Tuesday that the state and federal officials who inspected Oroville Dam relied too heavily on visual inspections, ignoring blueprints, construction records and other documented clues that could have warned them about the dam’s troubled flood-control spillway long before it fractured in February. … The forensic team’s report brought a swift response from Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, whose constituents were among those evacuated.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news September 6, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Officials missed big picture before Oroville Dam spillway failed, experts say

The most detailed report yet on what went wrong at Oroville Dam last winter when 180,000 people fled amid fears of flooding found that state and federal officials failed to uncover long-standing construction and maintenance issues at the nation’s tallest dam.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news September 5, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: UC Berkeley group says DWR ‘green spot’ report is not enough

The UC Berkeley group analyzing the state Department of Water Resources’ response to the spillway crisis is still not satisfied with the department’s explanation for Oroville Dam’s “green spot” in a report released earlier this week.

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  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 31, 2017 KQED Public Media for Northern California

Water agency says Oroville Dam ‘green spot’ poses no threat

The state Department of Water Resources has released a report on the Oroville Dam’s “green spot,” declaring the extensive area of persistent moisture on the face of the dam is due to seasonally trapped rainfall and poses no threat to the dam’s integrity.

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  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 31, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Those green, wet spots on Oroville Dam aren’t worrisome, state insists

State dam operators have issued a new report that refutes troubling allegations raised by a catastrophic engineering expert who contends Oroville Dam may be dangerously leaking.

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  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 30, 2017 The Union, serving Western Nevada County

Massive effort in motion to repair Oroville Dam Spillway

It’s been six months since a failure of the Oroville Dam Spillway led to the evacuation nearly 200,000 people, including hundreds who took refuge at an evacuation center at the Nevada County Fairgrounds as well as hotels in the Grass Valley and Nevada City area.

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  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 29, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Assemblyman conducting survey on Oroville spillway crisis

Assemblyman James Gallagher and his team are conducting a survey about the Oroville spillway crisis this past winter and are asking Yuba-Sutter residents to provide feedback on how they were impacted.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 29, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: Man gets 13 years for breaking into market during evacuations

A man has been sentenced to 13 years in state prison after pleading no contest to charges he broke into an Oroville market during the Oroville Dam spillway evacuations in February, Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey announced Friday.

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  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 24, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Oroville goes to war with DWR over dam

The Oroville City Council fired off a critical letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, criticizing how the Department of Water Resources operates Oroville Dam and demanding a host of changes.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 24, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Lake Oroville spillway construction on schedule, says DWR

Construction at the Lake Oroville spillways is on schedule to meet a Nov. 1 deadline for this year’s repairs, according to the Department of Water Resources. The department has passed the midway point on its construction timeline for this year’s repairs on the main spillway, which was badly damaged during high February releases.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 15, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Feather River gets new gravel for spawning salmon

The state Department of Water Resources is beginning to lay the gravel foundation for spawning salmon. This comes as much of the gravel was washed away with high flows from the Oroville Dam spillway this winter.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 15, 2017 Capital Public Radio

A trip down the Feather River shows impacts of Oroville Dam spillway failure (with audio)

The heavy rains and significant releases of water from Lake Oroville after the spillway failure caused startling changes to the Feather River this spring.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 10, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: Review board concerned about concrete used in spillway reconstruction

The independent consultants reviewing plans for the Oroville Dam main spillway reconstructions expressed some concerns in two recent memos about construction of the center part of the project.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 10, 2017 Capital Public Radio

Oroville Dam’s green spot: Innocent pool or big problem?

The failure of the Oroville spillway in February led people to notice a large green spot on Lake Oroville’s dam. The spot has been there for years, but the questions remain as to whether it’s a sign the dam is leaking.

  • Read more
  • Original article
Aquafornia news August 10, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Trump administration sends payout for Oroville Dam crisis

Federal disaster officials have agreed to chip in $22.8 million to help California pay the estimated $500 million cost of the Oroville Dam crisis. … Department of Water Resources spokeswoman Erin Mellon said Wednesday during a biweekly conference call with reporters that she expects more money to come the state’s way.

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Aquafornia news August 10, 2017 KQED Public Media for Northern California

Panel weighed Oroville Dam spillway failure in 2014 — and called it unlikely

Consider a couple of scenarios for big trouble at Oroville Dam: First: The facility’s main concrete spillway suffers serious damage, resulting in erosion of the rock beneath it — and potentially threatening the safety of the dam itself.

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Aquafornia news August 9, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Deadline Friday to claim spillway crisis damages

Friday is the deadline to file a claim with the state government to have a chance of being reimbursed for damages suffered during the Oroville Dam spillway emergency. … Residents may be eligible to receive money to compensate for travel expenses, damage to property, and loss of salary or benefits.

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Aquafornia news August 9, 2017 Capital Public Radio

Prep work for Oroville spillway nearly complete

The California Department of Water Resources says most of the prep work for new construction on the Oroville main spillway has been completed.

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Aquafornia news August 8, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: Mayor’s emails during spillway crisis under scrutiny

Several Oroville city councilors have voiced criticism about the mayor’s communication with representatives of the state Department of Water Resources and the State Water Contractors during the height of the Oroville Dam crisis.

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Aquafornia news August 8, 2017 Capital Public Radio

Cutoff wall but no chute this year for Oroville Dam emergency spillway

Tons of earth washed down the hillside below the Oroville Dam emergency spillway in February. Three projects have been approved for the site.

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Aquafornia news August 7, 2017 Capital Public Radio

$1 billion worth of claims for Oroville Dam damages filed with state of California

One week before the deadline to formally seek payment from the state of California for damages stemming from the Oroville Dam’s spillway failure this year, the state has received 93 claims worth a combined $1.1 billion.

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Aquafornia news August 7, 2017 San Jose Mercury News

Monday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam — Six months after disaster, a race to repair

Six months ago, relentless winter storms dumped nearly 13 inches of rain in four days on the Sierra Foothills, tearing an enormous hole in the spillway at Oroville Dam, the nation’s highest, and leading to an unprecedented emergency that prompted the evacuation of 188,000 people from nearby towns. Today, what could have been ground zero for America’s worst dam disaster is now a hotbed of construction activity.

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Aquafornia news August 4, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Walnut farmers file $15-million claim against California for Oroville Dam crisis

Two Butte County farmers have filed a $15-million claim against the state of California, claiming they lost valuable walnut trees as a result of the Oroville Reservoir crisis in February.

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Aquafornia news August 4, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Work to fix damaged levee begins in Yuba City

Work crews with heavy machinery started emergency repairs Thursday to a levee that protects Yuba City, and was damaged by high flows during the Oroville Dam spillway emergency. The $28.5 million project will create a seepage cutoff wall and rebuild 2.9-miles of levee along the west side of the Feather River that protect 80,000 people.

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Aquafornia news August 3, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Farmers seek damages over Oroville Dam spillway failure

Lawyers filed a $15 million government claim on Tuesday on behalf of walnut farmers who say they lost more than two dozen acres of land along the Feather River when the Oroville Dam spillway failed in February, causing massive flooding and destructive erosion in the area below.

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Aquafornia news August 1, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Drone video shows repairs progressing at Oroville Dam (with video)

Drone video released by the California Department of Water Resources shows how repairs are moving along at the Oroville Dam’s main spillway, which crumbled during the extremely wet winter and forced the evacuation of 180,000 people.

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Aquafornia news July 27, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Oroville Dam update: It’s almost time for concrete to be poured at spillway

Officials in charge of repairing the damaged spillways at Lake Oroville said they’ve received the needed authorization from state and federal agencies for 2017 construction plans.  The plan now is to continue preparing the demolished main spillway for concrete to be poured over the next few weeks.

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Aquafornia news July 26, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Speculation about Oroville Dam’s ‘green spot’ grows

A new report from a UC Berkeley group researching what caused the Lake Oroville spillway to fail in February is concerned that a green spot on the nation’s tallest dam might mean it is leaking. This is not the first time the “green spot” on the southern end of Oroville Dam has been brought up.

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Aquafornia news July 26, 2017 CALmatters

Commentary: Bureaucratic bungling on Oroville Dam bodes ill for future projects

Slowly – but surely – we are learning that the near-catastrophic failure of Oroville Dam’s main spillway wasn’t truly caused by weather, even though the state claims that in seeking federal aid for repairs. Rather, it resulted from poor engineering and construction when the nation’s highest dam was rising more than a half-century ago as the centerpiece of the State Water Project, and poor maintenance since its completion.

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Aquafornia news July 24, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Recreation Advisory Committee supports relicensing delay, asks DWR ‘What’s the hurry?’

If the Oroville Dam relicensing agreement was approved now, the state Department of Water Resources and local groups could be partners for another 50 years.

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Aquafornia news July 21, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

After 10 years of delays on dam relicensing, these groups want more time

More groups have signed on to an effort to delay the relicensing of the Oroville Dam project. … The office of Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, has also issued a letter requesting a delay.

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Aquafornia news July 21, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: Catastrophic engineering expert asks: Is Oroville Dam leaking?

One of the country’s foremost experts on catastrophic engineering failures released a new report Thursday on the troubled Oroville Dam that asks a disturbing question: Is the country’s tallest dam leaking?

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Aquafornia news July 21, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Engineering expert blasts management failures at Oroville Dam

State water resources officials and federal regulators caused the failure of the Oroville Dam spillway in February by ignoring long-established guidelines and neglecting their duty to manage risks and detect flaws, a scathing report by a Berkeley engineering expert concluded Thursday.

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Aquafornia news July 20, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Trailheads closing so PG&E can disassemble towers near Oroville Dam

The Lakeland Boulevard trailhead area and parking lot will be closed July 24-28 while PG&E unloads electric transmission towers being disassembled near Oroville Dam.

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Announcement July 20, 2017

Visit Oroville Dam and its Damaged Spillway in October on Northern California Water Tour
Meet with top officials coordinating repair efforts; learn what led to the crisis

In 2017, it is likely that no other water story grabbed as many headlines in California and across the country as the flood incident at Oroville Dam, the centerpiece of the State Water Project and its largest water storage facility.

On our upcoming Northern California Tour, we will spend time at the Oroville Dam visitor’s center and meet with California Department of Water Resources staff. You’ll see drone footage from February’s flood incident, learn the engineering background on what led to it, and hear about plans to stabilize the spillway before the next winter storms and to finalize repairs by 2018.

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Aquafornia news July 18, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Lake Oroville boat ramps get longer, so state offers ride service

Many lake users have complained to the state about fewer recreational opportunities on the lake in the aftermath of the Lake Oroville spillway disaster in February. Since then, the lake level has dropped significantly, meaning boaters have farther to walk after parking their vehicles at the high-water line.

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Aquafornia news July 17, 2017 East Bay Times

Drone video shows progress on Oroville Dam spillway repair

Shot July 11, the video shows concrete being pumped between the stay-in-place forms. It is part of a new foundation and drainage system for the Lake Oroville control spillway.

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Aquafornia news July 14, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Board of Consultants tweaks former Oroville Dam design recommendation

In its eighth memorandum released Thursday, the independent board analyzing the redesign of the Oroville Dam spillways commends the construction contractor’s work and makes slight tweaks to former recommendations.

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Aquafornia news July 13, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR wants to reconstruct more of spillway this season

The state Department of Water Resources has filed a request with the Federal Energy Commission to demolish and reconstruct an additional 240 feet of the main Oroville Dam spillway upper chute this season. The purpose of the change is to ensure the reconstruction can be complete in two seasons, per a recent FERC filing.

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Aquafornia news July 12, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

LaMalfa seeks delay of new license for Oroville Dam

Congressman Doug LaMalfa doesn’t want a new license issued for Oroville Dam until some safety questions are answered and some commitments are made to local government. LaMalfa, R-Richvale, sent a letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acting Chairwoman Cheryl LaFleur requesting the delay.

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Aquafornia news July 12, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Why the state is in such a hurry to fix Oroville Dam

The Department of Water Resources have asked federal regulators to let it demolish and replace an additional 240 feet of the spillway’s 3,000-foot concrete chute before the rains comes this fall, leaving less work for next year.

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Aquafornia news July 11, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Cities, counties file $22 million in Oroville Dam spillway crisis claims

It’s still too early to know just how significant an impact the February evacuation and Oroville Dam spillway incident had on Yuba and Sutter counties. So far, estimates put damages and losses around $22 million for local municipalities, and that number will continue to grow as county officials lock down estimates.

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Aquafornia news July 11, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Kiewit grants tour of Oroville Dam site

Nearly 80 days after winning the bid to fix the disastrous Oroville Dam spillways, the contractor Kiewit offered the Chico Enterprise-Record and Oroville Mercury-Register Friday a close-up view of construction efforts.

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Aquafornia news July 6, 2017 Capital Public Radio

DWR officials look into unauthorized explosion at Oroville Dam spillway

Blasting at the Oroville Spillway work site is halted for the time being as managers figure out what was behind a recent unauthorized explosion.

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Aquafornia news July 6, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: They’ve demolished most of Oroville Dam’s troubled spillway. What’s next?

The preliminaries are just about over. Permanent structural repairs are about to begin at Oroville Dam. Five months after an unprecedented emergency forced a mass evacuation, state officials said Wednesday they’re ready to start replacing the now-demolished lower portions of Oroville’s main flood-control spillway.

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Aquafornia news June 30, 2017 KQED Public Media for Northern California

Building a model to help restore Oroville Dam’s shattered spillway

Anyone who contemplated the wreckage of the Oroville Dam’s main spillway back in February — either while water was pounding down the shattered concrete structure or when the flow was stopped later and the enormity of the damage was fully visible — probably had this thought cross their mind: “That is going to be tough to fix.”

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Aquafornia news June 30, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

He oversaw dam safety as problems lurked at Oroville. Should he be advising state?

Facing a crisis after a huge crater formed in the main flood-control spillway at Oroville Dam, officials at the California Department of Water Resources called in an old hand to help: David Gutierrez, a nationally known engineer who had just retired as chief of the agency’s dam-safety division.

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Aquafornia news June 27, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam viewing platform not coming anytime soon

A viewing platform to oversee construction at the Oroville Dam spillway will not be ready anytime soon, despite previous vocal commitments from officials with the state Department of Water Resources.

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Aquafornia news June 26, 2017 Associated Press

Engineers use replica to pinpoint California’s Oroville Dam repairs

Inside a cavernous northern Utah warehouse, hydraulic engineers send water rushing down a replica of a dam built out of wood, concrete and steel – trying to pinpoint what repairs will work best at the tallest dam in the U.S for a spillway torn apart in February during heavy rains that triggered the evacuation of 200,000 people living downstream.

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Aquafornia news June 23, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Now’s the time to file claims for losses during Oroville Dam spillway crisis

Residents forced to flee their homes and drop work in February because of the Oroville Dam emergency should file a claim with the state government soon in order to have a chance at getting reimbursed.

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Aquafornia news June 22, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Heat wave should not hinder Oroville Dam repairs, contractor says

Work at the Oroville Dam will carry on in spite of the 110 degree-plus temperatures anticipated this week. There are protections in place for construction employees with the contractor, Kiewit, and concrete has to undergo a cooling techniques to be able to keep applying it, said Jeff Petersen, the company’s project director in a press conference call Wednesday morning.

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Aquafornia news June 19, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Monday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam repair is huge, but so is residents’ mistrust

The rush of workers and heavy machinery to the shore of Lake Oroville is so vast and unfamiliar it’s fanning rumors across this rural region that the ruckus couldn’t just be for a historic dam repair. … But as state officials gave The Chronicle a tour last week of the construction site, they said the effort was both extensive and relatively straightforward.

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Aquafornia news June 16, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: California Legislature votes to keep dam-safety plans secret

Fresh off the Oroville Dam crisis, California lawmakers on Thursday voted to make dam-safety plans secret through language that was quietly inserted into a budget-related bill. The legislation, which requires Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature before becoming law, says emergency action plans at dams would be kept confidential to “protect public safety.”

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Aquafornia news June 14, 2017 Water Deeply

Oroville Dam incident explained: What happened, why and what’s next

In February, damage to the spillway of the dam on Lake Oroville in Butte County, California, and erosion under the dam’s emergency spillway threatened to send billions of gallons of water cascading through dozens of California communities. The dam did not collapse, but the damage to the spillway and the emergency spillway was enormous.

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Aquafornia news June 13, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Crews recognized for creative engineering to save salmon

Quick thinkers who came up with a plan to rescue millions of salmon using fresh water from fire hydrants during the Oroville Dam emergency were recognized for their efforts Sunday by legislators, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and other entities.

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Aquafornia news June 12, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

New spillway design said to pass muster

The Board of Consultants determined the forensic teams’ list of potential Oroville Dam spillway failures are being addressed in the new design, according to a new memorandum published last week.

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Aquafornia news June 9, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

5 things to know about the Oroville Dam

The Oroville Dam has been making headlines for decades, but especially since a damaged spillway in February forced the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people.

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Aquafornia news June 8, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Why is the state withholding asbestos records at Oroville Dam?

In the latest skirmish over transparency at the troubled Oroville Dam, a Northern California activist group has sued state officials alleging they’re illegally withholding information about potentially toxic asbestos.

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Aquafornia news June 5, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Oroville Dam crisis was a good thing for these people

The helicopters alone cost more than $100,000 a day at one point. Weeks of dredging debris ran to more than $22 million. And on the day after the massive evacuation, as the crisis was peaking, the state spent $3,902 on breakfasts and lunches for emergency workers.

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Aquafornia news June 2, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Probe of spillway crisis to include DWR’s organization, staff

Not just concrete and rebar, but “human and organizational” factors that could have contributed to the emergency at the Oroville Dam spillway will be included in the investigation currently underway by an independent team of experts assembled by two national dam associations.

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Aquafornia news June 2, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Oroville Dam update: Fracture likely caused by ‘multiple factors’

If you’re expecting a quick and easy answer on what caused the spillway failure at Oroville Dam, think again. The leader of the independent forensics team studying the Oroville crisis said Thursday that the crack in the dam’s main flood-control spillway likely was caused by a combination of problems.

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Aquafornia news June 2, 2017 Associated Press

Experts: Lack of warning at Oroville Dam raises alarms

Dam experts say the collapse of spillways at the nation’s tallest dam this winter has raised alarms nationally because there appeared to be no warning that the spillways were about to fail.

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Aquafornia news June 1, 2017 Associated Press

New emergency siren installed at Oroville Dam

The state Department of Water Resources says it will conduct the first test of the new siren at Oroville Dam on Friday.

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Aquafornia news June 1, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Newspaper gets answers on exclusive Oroville Dam site visit

The Enterprise-Record/Oroville Mercury-Record got its closest look so far Wednesday at the Oroville Dam spillway work on a site visit hosted by the state Department of Water Resources. … The visit included an hour-long meeting in a conference room at DWR’s Oroville headquarters, and a trip to catch a view of lower spillway blasting around 12:30 p.m. followed by access to the structure above the spillway.

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Aquafornia news May 30, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Who pays for Oroville Dam spillway repairs?

Work is underway right now at the Oroville Dam spillway, but many questions remain. How much will it cost? Will repairs be complete in time for the rainy season?

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Aquafornia news May 30, 2017 Water Deeply

Oroville Dam in miniature: Scale model helps repair damaged spillway

When it comes to repairing the tallest dam in America, sometimes it helps to shrink the problem to a more manageable size. That’s why California water officials are relying on a scale model of the damaged spillway at Oroville Dam to plan their repairs.

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Aquafornia news May 26, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Lake Oroville expects busiest weekend of the year

State Parks expects a busy Memorial Day weekend at Lake Oroville even with the spillway dominating the news. … A portion of Lake Oroville remains closed as construction continues at the Oroville Dam spillway.

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Aquafornia news May 25, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Reconstruction begins at Oroville Dam

The reconstruction of Oroville Dam’s flood-control spillways is underway, and California officials vow the structures will become stronger and safer than ever.

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Aquafornia news May 24, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Levee managers talk issues with DWR

The Department of Water Resources invited downstream levee maintaining agencies and county emergency operators to a meeting in Oroville on Monday to discuss ways of improving operations and planning for future emergency situations.

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Aquafornia news May 22, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Is ‘potential Oroville waiting to happen’ at other spillways?

Federal dam regulators are reevaluating how they conduct dam inspections in the wake of the Oroville Dam spillway crisis, and they’ve ordered the nation’s dam operators to thoroughly inspect their facilities to see “if they have a potential Oroville waiting to happen,” a federal dam inspector said Sunday.

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Aquafornia news May 19, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Oroville Dam spillway to go offline until fall, allowing for repairs

State officials plan to stop releasing water down the mangled main spillway at Oroville Dam on Friday, allowing workers to begin months of round-the-clock repairs to the chute and to an emergency spillway that is also badly damaged.

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Aquafornia news May 18, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Timeline: 100 days of Oroville Dam drama

A hole in the concrete spillway chute of the Oroville Dam first made itself known 100 days ago. How it got there is still a mystery, as is what it will cost to fix the resulting damage and whether a fix will be in place in time for the next rainy season.

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Aquafornia news May 18, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam spillway shutting down for summer repairs

Water will stop flowing from Oroville Dam’s badly damaged spillway on Friday, in the hopes it’s the last time it will be used before the next rainy season.

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Aquafornia news May 16, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Lake releases to Feather River being reduced

Releases from Lake Oroville into the Feather River were reduced Monday morning, with further reduction likely in the week ahead, according to the Department of Water Resources.

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Western Water Excerpt May 15, 2017 Gary Pitzer Jennifer Bowles

Enhancing California’s Water Supply: The Drive for New Storage
Spring 2017

One of the wettest years in California history that ended a record five-year drought has rejuvenated the call for new storage to be built above and below ground.

In a state that depends on large surface water reservoirs to help store water before moving it hundreds of miles to where it is used, a wet year after a long drought has some people yearning for a place to sock away some of those flood flows for when they are needed.

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Aquafornia news May 15, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Monday’s Top of the Scroll: ‘Lethal arrogance’? Oroville Dam crisis sprang from Pat Brown’s towering ambition

America’s tallest dam was built from earth, stone and concrete – and the towering ambition of Gov. Pat Brown. Sixty years before a crisis at Oroville Dam sent thousands fleeing for their lives in February, the late governor brought an almost evangelical zeal to erecting the structure that would hold back the Feather River to deliver water to the parched southern half of the state.

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Aquafornia news May 15, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

After decades of shattered expectations at Lake Oroville, can residents trust state?

There was going to be a steam train – and a monorail. Plus a major resort featuring a 250-seat restaurant and a 1,000-seat amphitheater. As many as 5 million visitors a year would show up. When it came to wooing Butte County about the construction of Oroville Dam, state officials weren’t shy about setting grand expectations.

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

3 months later: The lessons learned from dam evacuation

Trouble had been developing at the Oroville Dam and the main spillway had been shut down; water started flowing over the emergency spillway and the hillside below it started disintegrating at an alarming rate. Late afternoon on Feb. 12, evacuation orders were issued. By most people’s accounts, it didn’t go well.

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville spillway: Another round of questions for water leaders working on repairs

If a fresh look had been taken at Oroville Dam — any time between 50 years ago and last year — could the breakup of the spillway have been avoided? Is enough being done to ensure that work done today will keep the communities downstream of the dam safe? Should the Department of Water Resources remain in charge of the dam in the future?

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2017 Associated Press

Salmon survive Oroville Dam spillway erosion but suffocate after hatchery’s pump fails

A quarter-million hatchery salmon survived the near-collapse of a California dam’s spillway this winter only to suffocate after a pump failed this week, officials said Thursday.

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Will Trump administration reimburse California for Oroville Dam?

The amount of money Donald Trump’s administration reimburses California for repairs to Oroville Dam could depend on whether the state properly maintained the dam’s spillway prior to it crumbling this winter, a state water official told lawmakers Thursday.

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Aquafornia news May 12, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Thousands of baby salmon die in hatchery mishap

As many as 300,000 baby fall-run chinook salmon have died in a hatchery on the Feather River after a pump failure reduced water flow into the facility.

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Yuba City audience greets DWR with message of distrust

As in most of the other community meetings the Department of Water Resources has conducted about the Oroville Dam spillway crisis, staff members Tuesday night offered profuse apologies and community members voiced distrust. … Many of those who stood to speak said they or their families had also been present for the floods of the past (1955, 1986, 1997).

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Not so close: Oroville Dam Diversion Pool dredging won’t be done until December

There’s more debris in the water at the Oroville Dam Diversion Pool than initially thought, and state Department of Water Resources officials now don’t expect to complete dredging and hauling of debris by December. DWR is seeking bids for the remaining work.

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam spillway had two dozen problems that may have led to mass failure, report says

The massive failure of the Oroville Dam’s main spillway in February involved two dozen potential design and maintenance problems, including thin concrete, inadequate reinforcing steel and weaknesses in the foundation, a panel of engineering experts reported Wednesday.

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Aquafornia news May 11, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Oroville Dam: What state’s forensics team has found in first analysis

In a report released Wednesday, engineers assigned to investigate the February failure of Oroville Dam’s main spillway cited a variety of flaws in the 3,000-foot-long structure, including variations in the thickness of the concrete slabs, poor drainage beneath the spillway, improperly filled cracks and signs of inadequate maintenance.

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Aquafornia news May 10, 2017 Associated Press

Mayors: California not operating damaged dam safely

California is putting communities downstream in danger of flooding with the way it runs the now-crippled Oroville Dam, mayors and county leaders wrote this week in a strongly worded letter to Gov. Jerry Brown.

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Aquafornia news May 10, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Standing to lose over $60 million, Oroville considers jumping ship on DWR settlement agreement

Pursuing exiting the settlement agreement with the state Department of Water Resources was on the table Tuesday night at a special meeting of the Oroville City Council, but the decision was set aside for later. Most of the council expressed interest in gathering more public opinion on the issue before taking a vote, with a town hall date set for May 22 at 5:30 p.m. in the Municipal Auditorium.

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Aquafornia news May 9, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam spillway to be reopened Wednesday

Water releases into the Feather River will be almost quadrupling Wednesday, and residents are warned to watch for deeper, swifter water.

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Aquafornia news May 9, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville battling spillway fears with video campaign

Anglers from the big cities, boat fanatics, antique hunters, campers, hikers and other tourists are questioning the safety of Oroville and Lake Oroville after February’s spillway crisis.

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Aquafornia news May 9, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam — With bills rolling in, state borrows heavily

California is borrowing up to $500 million to pay for the crisis at Oroville Dam, although it expects to be reimbursed for its costs. … Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., has won a $275.4 million contract for the repairs, which are expected to take two years.

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Aquafornia news May 9, 2017 Associated Press

California asks federal taxpayers to fund repairs at dam

California is asking the federal government to pay 75 percent of the hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs to the badly damaged spillways at the nation’s tallest dam, a state water agency spokeswoman said Monday.

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Aquafornia news May 5, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Switch in spillway repairs – starting from the bottom up, literally

The independent board overseeing the repair of the damage main Oroville Dam spillway has recommended the state Department of Water Resources change its priorities and focus on the damaged bottom chute rather than the top.

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Aquafornia news May 5, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: The latest on Oroville Dam spillway repairs – and what state won’t tell us

Outside consultants agree with the state’s plan to spend the next two summers replacing sections of Oroville Dam’s still largely intact upper spillway rather than trying to tear it all out in one season. But the public can’t see the recommendations the independent board of consultants gave the Department of Water Resources to ensure the work is safe and sound.

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Aquafornia news May 4, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

‘We are very, very sorry.’ State water officials face frustrated Oroville crowd

Cindy Messer apologized Tuesday to several hundred grim Oroville residents who had been ordered to run from their homes three months earlier. They sat rigidly in their seats inside the Oroville Municipal Auditorium at the first public meeting Messer’s agency, the Department of Water Resources, has hosted in Oroville since the February crisis at the dam.

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Aquafornia news May 3, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Questions, answers and a bit of scorn for DWR at Oroville Dam meeting

Will there be a viewing platform where the public can watch work being done on the Oroville spillway? That’s the plan, according to Cindy Messer, Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Water Resources.

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Aquafornia news May 2, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR Oroville Dam meetings Tuesday, Thursday in Oroville; spillway flows shut off

Informational meetings on the Oroville Dam situation are planned Tuesday and Thursday in Oroville, and flows are being shut down on the damaged main spillway.

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Aquafornia news April 28, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Power industry consultant proposes dual design Oroville Dam spillway

A power industry consulting firm has proposed a design for the Oroville Dam spillways which involves not repairing the current one, but building a new, wider spillway. … Kenneth Viney, manager of CoastalGen Inc., based in Napa, filed suggestions Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.

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Aquafornia news April 28, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR answers public’s questions, listens to concerns

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the impact on your lives,” Bill Croyle told a crowd of more than 250 people at the Butte County Fairgrounds. Croyle, the acting director of the Department of Water Resources, answered questions and listened Thursday evening as people stepped up to a microphone and were heard during the first of the water agency’s community meetings about the Oroville Dam spillway disaster and evacuations.

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Aquafornia news April 28, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Another Oroville Dam document is sealed – for now

California officials are keeping another document on the Oroville Dam recovery sealed from public view but promise to release a redacted version within a week. The Department of Water Resources filed an update Thursday from the outside consultants advising DWR on Oroville repairs.

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Aquafornia news April 27, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Experts review DWR secret memos

Two experts weighed in on the memos that the Board of Consultants assessing the current operations and future spillway options sent to the Department of Water Resources. … A former engineer who reviews disasters and a Chico State University engineering professor reviewed the memos and talked to this newspaper about their questions, comments and concerns.

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Wednesday’s Top of the Scroll: Lawmakers quiz water officials on Oroville Dam repair

Members of the state Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee, at an hourlong oversight hearing on the Oroville crisis, questioned Secretary John Laird, the head of the Department of Water Resources and Natural Resources, on the specifications of the $275 million contract awarded earlier this month to Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., to fix the dam’s two damaged spillways.

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Key players in Oroville Spillway incident given homework by senators

For the first time since the Lake Oroville spillway crisis began, members of the state Legislature peppered key water leaders with questions about what happened, what will happen next and what can be learned from it all.

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2017 Associated Press

State’s water chief: Despite crisis, Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway ‘worked’

The head of California’s water agency on Tuesday repeated his assertion that an emergency spillway at the Oroville Dam worked, drawing an incredulous response from a state lawmaker who represents tens of thousands of people ordered to evacuate when it was feared erosion at the spillway could lead to catastrophic flooding.

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Aquafornia news April 26, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Experts: Oroville Dam’s crippled spillways can’t be fully repaired this year

A pair of crippled spillways at Oroville Dam can be repaired in part by November, but a good deal of the work will probably have to be done after the next rainy season, according to reports by an independent panel of experts.

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Western Water April 26, 2017 Gary Pitzer Gary Pitzer

Legislative Committee Spotlights Need for Improved Dam Oversight

California Natural Resources Agency Secretary John Laird said Tuesday that the February crisis with the broken spillway at Oroville Dam offers an “important opportunity” to assess the safety of the more than 1,400 dams in the state.

“We really want to use the focus on this to look at the issue of dam safety in California,” he said during a hearing of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. “We have the best inspection program of the 50 states but it is clear we can do better.”

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Aquafornia news April 25, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Fixing Oroville Dam will cost hundreds of millions. Who should pay the bill?

The damage has been done and the repair contract awarded. … How much will be the responsibility of homeowners, businesses, farmers and other customers of the more than two dozen local and regional agencies that contract with the State Water Project? 

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Aquafornia news April 25, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Water under Oroville spillway probably caused February collapse, state consultants say

Official reports released Monday say the catastrophic damage to Oroville Dam’s main spillway probably stemmed from swift water flows under the concrete chute, which was cracked and of uneven thickness.

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Aquafornia news April 25, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

State kept these Oroville Dam documents secret at first. Now they’ve partially released two of them

Responding to criticism about secrecy around the Oroville Dam repair effort, California officials released two redacted reports Monday from outside engineers consulting on plans to fix the dam’s battered spillways.

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Aquafornia news April 24, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Monday’s Top of the Scroll: What went wrong at Oroville Dam? Congressional Democrats demand answers

Citing the near disaster at Oroville Dam, a group of congressional Democrats is pushing the government’s watchdog agency to investigate federal oversight of dam safety regulations. … Separately, the California state Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee will hold an oversight hearing on Oroville next Tuesday [April 25].

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Aquafornia news April 20, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Disaster expert says spillway emergency ‘developed and propagated by DWR’

A disaster expert’s review of the Oroville Dam spillway emergency says the Department of Water Resources could have prevented everything with better design, better construction and better maintenance. Robert Bea prepared the report published Monday.

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Aquafornia news April 20, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Environmental groups demand transparency over Oroville Dam emergency spillway repair plans

A coalition of environmental groups that had warned Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway was fatally flawed long before it nearly washed away this winter is demanding that federal regulators open up dam repair plans for public vetting.

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Aquafornia news April 20, 2017 Associated Press

Senator vexed by bad communication at Oroville Dam crisis

A California state senator is troubled that residents below a damaged California dam knew little about potential risk until ordered to evacuate when a spillway began breaking up.

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2017 Associated Press

Wednesday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam managers made missteps in handling crisis

Late in the afternoon of Feb. 12, Sheriff Kory Honea was at the emergency operations center for the tallest dam in America when he overheard someone say something that stopped him in his tracks: “This is not good.”

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Company that made Folsom Dam safer lands job of fixing Oroville Dam

The company that built one of greater Sacramento’s most important flood-control projects in years will fix the damaged spillways at Oroville Dam, site of a near catastrophe two months ago. … Kiewit has considerable experience with dam projects, including the decadelong, $900 million upgrade of Folsom Dam.

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Aquafornia news April 19, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Expert performed autopsy on Oroville spillway collapse. Here’s what he found.

As state officials clamp down on records at Oroville Dam, one of the country’s foremost experts on catastrophic engineering failures has used state inspection reports, photographs and historical design specifications to piece together an autopsy detailing why the spillway at the country’s tallest dam failed so spectacularly this winter.

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Oroville Dam’s repair estimates jump to $275 million

California water officials Monday awarded a $275 million contract to repair the troubled Oroville Dam to a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest construction companies that is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR announces Oroville Dam community informational meetings

The state Department of Water Resources has completed its schedule of community meetings it will be holding to provide information about the ongoing Oroville Dam spillway repairs.

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

State awards $275 million contract for Oroville Dam repairs

Kiewit Corp., a construction giant with extensive experience in dam projects, was awarded the massive repair job at troubled Oroville Dam on Monday.

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Aquafornia news April 18, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Serious design, construction and maintenance defects doomed Oroville Dam, report says

Design flaws, construction shortcomings and maintenance errors caused the Oroville Dam spillway to break apart in February, according to an independent analysis by Robert Bea for the Center for Catastrophic Risk Analysis at UC Berkeley.

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Aquafornia news April 17, 2017 Los Angeles Times

More rainstorms prompt the reopening of the damaged Oroville Dam spillway

State officials have reopened the damaged spillway at Oroville Dam as another set of rainstorms began moving across Northern California. … Water will continue pouring down the spillway for up to two weeks, depending on how much more rain falls.

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Aquafornia news April 17, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Bids for Oroville Dam repairs top state estimates; $275.4 million the lowest

Blowing past state officials’ financial projections, three construction contractors submitted bids for the Oroville Dam repairs that begin at $275 million, the Department of Water Resources said Saturday. … DWR said it would spend the weekend reviewing the bids and declare a winner Monday.

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Aquafornia news April 14, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

California’s water chief says he may release Oroville Dam documents after trying to keep them secret

California’s top water official said Thursday he’s considering releasing redacted copies of safety and progress reports at the troubled Oroville Dam after his office had tried to keep them secret because of terrorism concerns.

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Aquafornia news April 14, 2017 Associated Press

Water releases to resume at damaged Oroville Dam spillway

With stormy weather approaching, state water managers announced Thursday they will resume releasing water down a damaged spillway at the nation’s tallest dam. The badly eroded main spillway at California’s Oroville Dam hasn’t been used since March 27.

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Aquafornia news April 14, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: Officials plan to release water on damaged Oroville Dam spillway ahead of more wet weather

The California Department of Water Resources said Thursday that dam operators will reopen the damaged spillway for up to 14 days beginning Friday as state officials finish repair plans.

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Aquafornia news April 13, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam document secrecy frustrating lawmakers

It’s not just the residents of Oroville, Gridley and Yuba City who are frustrated with the Department of Water Resources’ lack of transparency concerning the Oroville Dam spillways. Two California legislators who represent those living downstream from the dam are also upset that they aren’t getting answers. … The state Senate’s Natural Resources Committee has a hearing scheduled at 9 a.m. April 25 that will go over what happened with the Oroville Dam spillway.

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Aquafornia news April 12, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Wednesday’s Top of the Scroll: Brown administration blocks public review of Oroville Dam records

Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is using federal security regulations written to thwart terrorism to deny public access to records that experts say could guide repairs to the Oroville Dam and provide insight into what led to the near catastrophic failure of its emergency spillway.

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Aquafornia news April 11, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

More delays for Oroville Dam relicensing; appointments needed from Trump

What’s new with the relicensing of Oroville Dam now that parts of the dam, mainly the main spillway, look a lot different? More waiting.

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Aquafornia news April 10, 2017 KQED Public Media for Northern California

How ‘incompetent rock’ led to the Oroville Dam crisis

California’s Dept. of Water Resources has announced a fast-track plan to replace the shattered spillways at Oroville Dam — at least partially — by November 1, when the rainy season is expected to resume. Meanwhile, engineers at Oroville Dam are drilling cores and conducting geological studies, hoping to better understand February’s near-catastrophic spillway failures.

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

DWR unveils plans to replace Oroville Dam spillway

The state Department of Water Resources Thursday outlined its plans for repairs and replacement of the Oroville Dam spillway by Nov. 1, with the undamaged top chute as the priority.

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

Bidding opens on Oroville Dam spillway repair

California officials on Thursday announced an ambitious plan to increase the size of Lake Oroville’s damaged main spillway, allowing it to release nearly twice as much water, as they seek to rebuild the 3,000-foot-long concrete chute that gave way this year.

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2017 The Sacramento Bee

Oroville Dam fix to span two years, but some key work due before winter rains

State officials sketched a two-year recovery plan Thursday for the battered Oroville Dam spillway, revealing a blueprint that’s far from complete, still in need of a price tag and certain to leave the structure partially damaged as the next rainy season approaches.

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Friday’s Top of the Scroll: Facing a tight deadline, state outlines initial repair plans for broken Oroville spillway

State officials said Thursday that they hope to sign a contract for reconstruction of the heavily damaged Lake Oroville spillway by April 17.

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Aquafornia news April 6, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: Department of Water Resources excavating Diversion Pool under emergency federal permit

The Department of Water Resources can operate the Oroville Dam project in an emergency capacity until Aug. 24. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved an emergency permit for the state water agency Feb. 24, and it is good for six months.

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Aquafornia news April 4, 2017 Appeal-Democrat

Officials revising evacuation plans following Oroville Dam incident

Since the Oroville Dam spillway incident highlighted flaws in the current system, Yuba-Sutter officials are in the process of revising evacuation plans. Both Yuba and Sutter counties have been gathering information from the public regarding the February evacuation and plan on using the situation as a learning tool.

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Aquafornia news April 3, 2017 Sacramento Bee

Oroville Dam documents kept secret by state, federal officials

Citing potential security risks, state and federal officials are blocking the public’s ability to review documents that could shed light on repair plans and safety issues at crippled Oroville Dam. … The secrecy on the part of state dam operators prompted state Sen. Jim Nielsen to call for an immediate oversight hearing.

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Aquafornia news April 3, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

A view from the other side of Oroville Dam, now closed to boaters

As a State Parks ranger, Bryan Taylor gets a close look at Lake Oroville almost every day. Feb. 11, however, was a once-in-a-lifetime view.

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Aquafornia news April 3, 2017 Sacramento Bee

Monday’s Top of the Scroll: Trump approves funds for California relief, including $274 million for Oroville Dam

President Donald Trump announced Sunday more than a half-billion dollars would be coming to California to help cover the damage from the winter storms, including $274 million for repairs to the Oroville Dam spillway. The fulfillment of the fourth presidential declaration for damage from the winter storms totals an estimated $540 million.

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Aquafornia news March 29, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Lake Oroville rises slowly as spillway flows halted

Water releases down the damaged main spillway at Lake Oroville have been halted in order to work on repairs there, and for now the lake is slowly rising.

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Aquafornia news March 28, 2017 Chico Enterprise-Record

Oroville Dam: Independent team to investigate cause of spillway failures

The state Department of Water Resources gave the overseeing federal agency of the Oroville Dam what it asked for last week — a schedule for the independent review team investigating the cause of the spillway failures, but it listed no deadline for a final report from the team.

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Aquafornia news March 28, 2017 Sacramento Bee

Tuesday’s Top of the Scroll: Oroville Dam spillway shut down again as state officials work on long-term plan

The operators of Oroville Dam acknowledged Monday they might not be able to permanently repair the dam’s battered main spillway in time for the next rainy season, but said they’re confident the fractured structure will be usable.

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Aquafornia news March 28, 2017 San Francisco Chronicle

State water official vows new Oroville Dam spillway by winter

California’s top water manager said Monday that the problem-plagued Oroville Reservoir will have a new spillway in place to prevent potentially dangerous outflows of water in time for the next rainy season.

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Aquafornia news March 27, 2017 Western Water on Tap

Crisis at Oroville may be basis for renewed operations criteria – Coming snowmelt poses a problem in San Joaquin Valley

In the wake of a near disaster at Oroville Dam caused by heavy runoff and a damaged spillway, the former chief of flood operations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said last week it may be time to reconsider how the reservoir is operated to avert such dilemmas.

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Aquafornia news March 24, 2017 Sacramento Bee

Damage, design flaws in Oroville Dam spillway point to lengthy repairs, consultants say

The main spillway at Oroville Dam is riddled with design flaws and so badly damaged that an independent panel of experts hired by the state has concluded it’s probably impossible to repair the structure completely before the next rainy season begins in November.

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Aquafornia news March 23, 2017 Los Angeles Times

Nearly six weeks after Oroville Dam crisis, authorities lift evacuation advisory

More than five weeks after erosion damage at Lake Oroville forced residents to flee to high ground, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday announced it had lifted an evacuation advisory.

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Aquafornia news March 23, 2017 Associated Press

Thursday’s Top of the Scroll: California may face ’significant risk’ from Oroville Dam

Safety experts say there is no time for delay in a state plan to restore the 770-foot Oroville Dam, and they warn California would face a “very significant risk” if a damaged spillway is not in working order by fall, the start of the next rainy season.

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