California Emergency!

[Mephistopheles]

Something isn't right Mephi,...
That dam is an earthen dam, so I doubt any crack would have impacted most of the actual dam itself.

Wouldn't be the first time Mom told me a tall one. She did take her work seriously and I did see a clipping of her receiving a certificate for her emergency planning for Oroville.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Wouldn't be the first time Mom told me a tall one. She did take her work seriously and I did see a clipping of her receiving a certificate for her emergency planning for Oroville.

More likely some officious county employee just wanted to see if she was capable.
With any luck she showed him she was more capable that he was.

 

[Mephistopheles]

More likely some officious county employee just wanted to see if she was capable.
With any luck she showed him she was more capable that he was.

Just looked it up on Wikipedia, "Two concrete-lined diversion tunnels, each 4,400 feet (1,300 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) in diameter, were excavated to channel the Feather River around the dam site. One of the tunnels was located at river level and would carry normal water flows, while the second one would only be used during floods.[13] In May 1963, workers poured the last of 252,000 cubic yards (193,000 m3) of concrete that comprised the 128-foot (39 m) high cofferdam, which would protect the construction site from floods. This structure would later serve as an impervious core for the completed dam." Could be this or most likely as you suggest.

 

[Camelfilter]

Just looked it up on Wikipedia, "Two concrete-lined diversion tunnels, each 4,400 feet (1,300 m) long and 35 feet (11 m) in diameter, were excavated to channel the Feather River around the dam site. One of the tunnels was located at river level and would carry normal water flows, while the second one would only be used during floods.[13] In May 1963, workers poured the last of 252,000 cubic yards (193,000 m3) of concrete that comprised the 128-foot (39 m) high cofferdam, which would protect the construction site from floods. This structure would later serve as an impervious core for the completed dam." Could be this or most likely as you suggest.

Or it more likely could have been an issue with the diversion sleuce dam wall, which is concrete AFAIK. Plus it is also likely whatever issue it was, was not a large enough risk at the time to alert the public at large over. Your Mom being in the preparedness arena, would have been made aware though.

 

[Nick Burkhardt]

 

[Goosebrown]

Silver lining here is that CA has ignored water infrastructure for 30 years. This might help them tackle the issue. The pattern there is always years of drought then a couple REALLY WET years where everything floods. They need to learn that lesson every 30-49 years.

 

[Goosebrown]

Something isn't right Mephi,...
That dam is an earthen dam, so I doubt any crack would have impacted most of the actual dam itself.

It's the spillway. If that fails it's a problem.

 

[Stomper]

View attachment 342500

Hey Governor "Sanctuary", why don't you have the several million illegal aliens you're enabling chip in to fund emergency operations and the repair of that dam... because they're so greatful and it'll save their jobs since they're the ones who work in the fields that'll be devestated.


C'mon Moonbeam, you show "the cheeto" how it's done!

 

[waglockfan]

Make all the illegals fill sandbags to plug it up, before they're deported.
MAGA!

 

[Jamie6.5]

I just read where "the followers of Moonbeam" spent $730 Million on water infrastructure last year, despite 5 years of drought.
But they also spent $25 Billion on illegals last year despite the fact they they're,... well, illegal.

So waglockfan's plan does have some merit.

 

[Certaindeaf]

View attachment 342500

 

[Stomper]

I just read where "the followers of Moonbeam" spent $730 Million on water infrastructure last year, despite 5 years of drought.
But they also spent $25 Billion on illegals last year despite the fact they they're,... well, illegal.

So waglockfan's plan does have some merit.

Don't forget that Cali has the highest concentration of million/billionaires on the planet. Let them eat cake.

 

[mkwerx]

Wake up call for Cali? Sadly, I doubt it. Out of touch idiots in Sacramento (and beyond) still won't do what's necessary to fix the problems, and the environmental weenies will demand studies after studies before they allow a new dam to be built, or the current one brought up to snuff. I'm highly suspect of most earthen dams at this point, being able to hold off a substantial earthquake, or record flooding event.

In my own neck of the woods - Scoggins Dam has been found to be seismically unstable, but they changed their minds after the funding to fix or replace it couldn't be secured. So magically a dam that was said to not be safe to withstand a substantial quake, was then deemed "safe" after they couldn't get the cash to fix it, or rather, to buy up the lumber mill and homes a mile downstream of the dam, and build a new, shorter, concrete dam that would benefit the users twofold - increasing storage capacity of the lake greatly, while improving safety of the dam itself.

If & when Scoggins goes, there's going to be a lot of water rushing through the Tualatin valley, unless we're lucky enough that it hits in say, late September thru November when the lake is at it's lowest points.

Far too long the states have ignored needed infrastructure improvements - and we're seeing the results. A few years ago it was collapsed bridges, we see highways all across the US in disrepair, and most folks think nothing of all the dams that hold back billions of gallons of water ever needing to be maintained, replaced, or upgraded. I hope President Trump and the congress can get through the infrastructure improvement programs Obama talked about but did nothing about. We need it.

 

[therealhitman]

Oh Gov. Moonbeam...

 

[Jamie6.5]

Far too long the states have ignored needed infrastructure improvements - and we're seeing the results. A few years ago it was collapsed bridges, we see highways all across the US in disrepair, and most folks think nothing of all the dams that hold back billions of gallons of water ever needing to be maintained, replaced, or upgraded. I hope President Trump and the congress can get through the infrastructure improvement programs Obama talked about but did nothing about. We need it.

This is what happens when the wrong things get prioritized. Federal funds get allocated to the states with every cycle of the congress.
But when you prioritize bike lanes, and mass transit and environmental studies over roads and bridges and water supply, this is the result.

Show up at any town hall meeting and ask most of the pols in northwest Oregon if they even know how to spell the word "Miss-allocated."
But be prepared to get asked/ordered to leave the meeting.

 

[mkwerx]

This is what happens when the wrong things get prioritized. Federal funds get allocated to the states with every cycle of the congress.
But when you prioritize bike lanes, and mass transit and environmental studies over roads and bridges and water supply, this is the result.

Show up at any town hall meeting and ask most of the pols in northeast Oregon if they even know how to spell the word "Miss-allocated."
But be prepared to get asked/ordered to leave the meeting.

Unfortunately - or fortunately depending on how one looks at it - the case of Scoggins Dam lays squarely with the Federal government - as they own it. It's a US Army Corps of Engineers project owned by the Bureau of Land Management, managed and administered by Washington County. Ultimately, Congress needs to appropriate funds to repair or replace the dam, and our senator from Manhattan gives 0 "poops" about it - and Merkley the Merkin is likewise ineffectual.

I sometimes wonder if I've contracted some sort of brain disease because I've taken steps in the last year that really lock me into this place financially. I'd need some sort of windfall or amazingly fruitful business conditions to allow me to pack up and leave at this point.

Being too lazy to Google it - I wonder if Oroville is similar to Scoggins, in that the Feds own the thing, and the state or county manages it - or does it belong to the State of California, to Butte County, or does it belong to the water district that it lies in? Who can the locals march on with torches and pitchforks if any are left when the thing collapases?

 

[Jamie6.5]

Being too lazy to Google it - I wonder if Oroville is similar to Scoggins, in that the Feds own the thing, and the state or county manages it - or does it belong to the State of California, to Butte County, or does it belong to the water district that it lies in? Who can the locals march on with torches and pitchforks if any are left when the thing collapases?

The state of California owns Orovolle, as it's part of the California State Water Project that transports the water it stores as far south as San Diego and the Inland Empire.
It does this via one of the largest man-made water transfer systems in the world. It consists of everything from natural rivers like the Feather and the Sacramento, to tunnels and canals and pumping stations scattered along the route.

That's why preservation of this thing is SO critical. Because so much of California and so many of its citizens depend on it.
For drinking and for crops. California represents something like 8% of the world's economy, and agriculture is a YUGE part of that.

 

[Jamie6.5]

Unfortunately - or fortunately depending on how one looks at it - the case of Scoggins Dam lays squarely with the Federal government - as they own it. It's a US Army Corps of Engineers project owned by the Bureau of Land Management, managed and administered by Washington County. Ultimately, Congress needs to appropriate funds to repair or replace the dam, and our senator from Manhattan gives 0 "poops" about it - and Merkley the Merkin is likewise ineffectual.

Lets face it, if a seismic event large enough to take out Scoggins Dam hits, the damage it does will be way down the list of priorities for both the feds and the state and TVID.
Irrigation district dams were built all over the country in the days of expansion and development, and in the era immediately after, and they were very popular with the people that depended on them for everything from irrigation water to recreation to flood control, and Scoggins is no different.
Scoggins is far from unique, but most of the fears center around the Cascadia Subduction Zone disaster.

And if that's what it takes to bring it down, it won't be the focus of the crying for most people in NW Oregon.

 

[mkwerx]

Very true - it'll be just another check box in the disaster results. But that water it stores is going to scour everything from Gaston to West Linn, and join the deluge that wipes out Portland's waterfront (see, there's a silver lining in ever disaster ) - it's much more of a local threat for me and my neighbors. There are hundreds of these earthen dam reservoirs in Oregon alone, and probably tens - maybe hundreds of thousands of these things across the US. They built up big rock and dirt berms, threw on a gate (maybe) to control outflow, and then forgot about them until something scary pops up. Then when "oh sh!t!" happens - its too late.

 

[Jamie6.5]

There are hundreds of these earthen dam reservoirs in Oregon alone, and probably tens - maybe hundreds of thousands of these things across the US. They built up big rock and dirt berms, threw on a gate (maybe) to control outflow, and then forgot about them until something scary pops up. Then when "oh sh!t!" happens - its too late.

I think most hydrologists would tell you those risks come with the territory.
It has to be in the upper reaches of the system if you want gravity to do most of the work.
And the more people it's intended to serve, the bigger it needs to be.

The fact that it puts the people that benefit from it at risk during a catastrophic event is true of a lot of things. The blame still lies with the catastrophe rather than the benefit provider.