The city of Escondido thought it had finally figured out how to raise the $35 million to $50 million it needs to replace the Lake Wohlford Dam. But then a complicated and prohibitively expensive problem arose. In 2007, studies determined that the top portion of the 124-year-old dam could collapse in a major earthquake, flooding eastern Escondido. So the city, under orders from a federal agency, immediately reduced the amount of water in the lake by more than half.