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Oroville Dam and the California Drought
The spillway is to increase runoff to 45,000 CFS starting Wednesday, where it previously was at 15,000 CFS.
Oroville Dam was in the news in February, when increased rains produced a problem with water release. The regular spillway removes dam water overages. When the dam water reaches it’s maximum height, at 960’, the highest dam in America begins using the emergency spillway.
Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway went into use February. The news found the emergency spillway seemed insufficient and an evacuation was called by DWR. 180,000 were evacuated, and crowded into churches, Evacuation Centers, and friends homes outside the dams area. It was chaos. Some had only an hour’s notice. Some were diverted after evacuating. They all got out. After about a week, officials said it was safe to go back, and residents returned to their homes.
The Oroville Dam evacuation of February proved to be a harbinger of what was possible after the 5 year California drought. Climate Change caused heavy rains to appear.
It also damaged the spillway. A lot. The Oroville Dam Spillway was broken in half. Water removal from the spillway had increased to 100,000 CFS, but was now decreased, eventually to zero, while DWR officials checked to see just how bad it was, up close. It was found that ‘it needed fixin’, and Governor Brown went to Washington to ask for funds. That happened and California was going to get it’s dam spillway repaired.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were expected for the repair. Those contracts were appointed, and spillway reconstruction was begun in April 2017. Oroville is to expect completed reconstruction of the spillway by November.
David Schaedler 5/8/17