Re: Redaction: DWR has NOT released ANY of the cited references in their Green area report. So it is not an issue of redaction, it is an issue of numerous documents that are 100% NOT available for independent expert confirmation of their analyses.
= =
Opinion/Observation: Until major changes occur within DWR, it will be business as usual. Proof: Look at the recent articles revealing the indecision and disarray exhibited by DWR - to where the sheriff accidentally discovered the danger and then drove DWR to accept the decision to evacuate 188,000+ residents, who were at an immediate risk of a 30 foot wall of water racing down the mountain, potentially within an hour.
This history reveals that the public will likely not have any substantive warning to a suddenly developing problem if it were related to an escalation of leakage (to the level of a threat to the dam). What likely will occur is that individual conscientious "sources" will inform the public via back channels. Social media will then take over. The citizens may only get a warning early enough through such "channels or sources". The information would quickly be boosted by other people observing "activity" at the face of the dam (inspectors, potential equipment, etc).
During any "social media" escalation to new information, DWR will have to respond with "statements", yet the issue becomes that to which DWR cannot answer the degree of the danger as they have no idea to the internal state of the dam (broken instruments & relying on peripheral "indicators" only via seepage).
So essentially, the public is left in a state of - "who do you trust?" - the public may take action to get out of harms way to be on the safe side. This may be turn out to be what saves more lives.
I believe that DWR did a great disservice to the public in issuing a "Public Relations" Green Area report rather than a real comprehensive "face the full facts" engineering analysis and true risk assessment. By DWR choosing "A Public Relations" report, they are instilling complacency in the public to the danger that may be lurking. This instilled complacency could make the difference between the public making their own decision to get out of harms way when the only source of real information on an escalation is from "social media" breaking information.
In a seismic region, it requires hyper-vigilance to monitor things you've mentioned like settling in the wall of the dam. All of your colleagues here know more of the types of things that can cause this tallest dam in America to suddenly breach.
I am reminded of the scene in Atlas Shrugged where the villain owner of a railroad is introduced. His first words are, “Don't bother me, don't bother me, don't bother me”! In the first half of the 20th century, great men, responsible men, built dams across the Western states. They foresaw the need of Progress which required water for great farms, ranches, and cities.
The second half of the 20th Century, the era of John Dewey's Progressive education begun in the 1920’s, brought us the stagnation of progress, character building and independent minds. The result was the politicians like Moonbeam and his big bureaucracy of passing the buck mediocrities.
It is heartening that men still exist who have brains, dedication, wisdom and are willing to fight, like Prof. Bea at Berkeley and my longtime hero, Dr. Bill Wattenburg of Berkeley and Chico. Thank you for all you fellows are doing!