Just because nature allows a delay of many years while officials dither over a catastrophe in the making doesn’t make that disaster any easier to handle when it finally strikes. This is one major lesson of the Oroville Dam spillway crisis that saw the sudden evacuation of almost 200,000 persons from their homes when the […]
Let’s say you owned a four-bedroom house, but one room was useless because of clutter. You’d probably eventually take a deep breath and clear out the crap. You’d reclaim the room. That’s pretty much the situation with many reservoirs in California. They’ve got too much gunk in them. And it’s crowding out space for water […]
Since the beginning of the year, enough water has spilled out of California’s rain-swollen Lake Oroville to meet the demands of roughly 14 million people for a year. With no place to store the excess, much of it ended up flowing out to sea. It wasn’t just last month’s dramatic near-disaster at Lake Oroville’s dam […]
Citing recent events at Oroville Dam, two congressmen have introduced a bill to speed up approval of a new reservoir in Northern California. The bill, HR1269, would accelerate federal review of the proposed Sites Reservoir and give officials a better chance at funding for the project under Proposition 1 bond funding, according to a news release from […]
In the late 1980s, a Japanese scientist named Koji Minoura stumbled on a medieval poem that described a tsunami so large it had swept away a castle and killed 1,000 people. Intrigued, Minoura and his team began looking for paleontological evidence of the tsunami beneath rice paddies, and discovered not one but three massive, earthquake-triggered waves […]
Just as recent storms revealed weaknesses in Northern California’s dams and levees, they also exposed problems with Sacramento-area wastewater systems that failed to contain sewage. Record precipitation in the last two months created more pressure than some sewer lines and plants could handle. From Jan. 1 to March 2, more than 1 million gallons of […]
OPINION: Ignored Oroville Warning Raises Big Questions
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Porterville Recorderby Thomas EliasJust because nature allows a delay of many years while officials dither over a catastrophe in the making doesn’t make that disaster any easier to handle when it finally strikes. This is one major lesson of the Oroville Dam spillway crisis that saw the sudden evacuation of almost 200,000 persons from their homes when the […]
California’s Reservoirs Are Filled With Gunk, And It’s Crowding Out Room To Store Water
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Los Angeles Timesby George SkeltonLet’s say you owned a four-bedroom house, but one room was useless because of clutter. You’d probably eventually take a deep breath and clear out the crap. You’d reclaim the room. That’s pretty much the situation with many reservoirs in California. They’ve got too much gunk in them. And it’s crowding out space for water […]
Rains Expose a New Water Problem in California: Storage
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Wall Street Journalby Jim CarltonSince the beginning of the year, enough water has spilled out of California’s rain-swollen Lake Oroville to meet the demands of roughly 14 million people for a year. With no place to store the excess, much of it ended up flowing out to sea. It wasn’t just last month’s dramatic near-disaster at Lake Oroville’s dam […]
Bill Would Speed Up Review of Proposed Reservoir
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Redding Record Searchlightby Damon ArthurCiting recent events at Oroville Dam, two congressmen have introduced a bill to speed up approval of a new reservoir in Northern California. The bill, HR1269, would accelerate federal review of the proposed Sites Reservoir and give officials a better chance at funding for the project under Proposition 1 bond funding, according to a news release from […]
West’s Super Floods May Wash Over Aging Dams, Scientists Warn
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /Newsweek (New York)by Krista LangloisIn the late 1980s, a Japanese scientist named Koji Minoura stumbled on a medieval poem that described a tsunami so large it had swept away a castle and killed 1,000 people. Intrigued, Minoura and his team began looking for paleontological evidence of the tsunami beneath rice paddies, and discovered not one but three massive, earthquake-triggered waves […]
Winter Storms Cause Massive Sewage Spills In Sacramento Region
/in California and the U.S. /by Mike Lee /The Sacramento Beeby Brad BrananJust as recent storms revealed weaknesses in Northern California’s dams and levees, they also exposed problems with Sacramento-area wastewater systems that failed to contain sewage. Record precipitation in the last two months created more pressure than some sewer lines and plants could handle. From Jan. 1 to March 2, more than 1 million gallons of […]