An unfolding crisis in northern California has brought unexpected attention to the infrastructure push that was one of the campaign planks of the new administration. The Oroville Dam is, in a sense, a crowning achievement of California’s 20th-century growth and the politicians and hydrological engineers who made it possible.
Water stopped cascading down Oroville Dam’s fractured main spillway Monday, revealing a gaping wound from a beating that lasted nearly three weeks. Dam operators gradually scaled back water releases to zero over a six-hour period, providing breathing room for construction crews trying to clear debris from a badly choked Feather River channel and restart the dam’s critically needed hydroelectric plant. The shutdown is expected to last about a week, which the state Department of Water Resources hopes will be enough time to bring the plant back into operation.
Operators of Oroville Dam – the nation’s highest – shut down its main spillway Monday so that debris could be cleared and the dam’s hydroelectric turbines could be restarted. It was merely the latest of many operational adjustments state and federal officials have made this year to cope with an unprecedented series of rain and snow storms that swept through the state, putting maximum pressure on its complex system of dams, reservoirs, river channels, canals, bypasses, weirs and other man-made water-control devices. By necessity, they operated on the fly as conditions changed, often suddenly, with Oroville being the centerpiece.
The effort to protect Oroville Dam entered a critical phase Monday when engineers shut off water flowing out of the damaged main spillway, giving officials their first unobstructed view of the eroded concrete chute since a crisis prompted mass evacuations earlier this month. For the next five to seven days, geologists and engineers will have an unhindered view of the concrete spillway, which on Monday was revealed to have severely deteriorated on its lower half during the last two weeks of use.
Reducing water rates will be on the agenda at a special meeting of the Helix Water District board on March 8th at 6 p.m. Director Dan McMillan has asked the board to consider cutting rates; the special meeting workshop will include discussion of current finances, water rates and what adjustments can be made. The issue of reducing water is also expected to be raised at this Wednesday’s meeting, March 1st at 6 p.m. during director’s comments and review of future agenda items. Both meetings are at the Helix Water District, 7811 University Ave., La Mesa.
Some technologies just seem to make sense. But everything has to line up correctly for a technology to move forward. When I was in Switzerland five or six years ago, the Swiss were considering putting in pumped storage so that low-cost wind from the north and low-cost solar from the south could be stored and then delivered to the rest of the continent at peak times. In 2016, the 1000-MW Linthal pumped storage hydro power plant was successfully synchronized to the Swiss grid bringing this vision to pass.
More than 80 percent of California is no longer in drought after a series of winter storms, including last week’s hourslong soaker in Southern California. About 17 percent of the state remains in drought, according to this week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report, the first since last Friday’s powerful storm. That’s a dramatic turnaround from one year ago when 94 percent of the state was in drought during an historic five-year dry spell.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
