At 770 feet, the Oroville Dam is the nation’s highest. At 48 years old, it’s certainly not the nation’s newest dam. It’s important to keep that fact in mind as crews work around the clock in an attempt to reinforce the dam’s damaged emergency spillway before the next round of rains begin later this week in Northern California. The Oroville Dam, like many of the dams, levees, seawalls, and other human efforts to contain nature, is a crucial piece of infrastructure that must be maintained and monitored.