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Oroville Dam: DWR still expects feds to pay bulk of spillway repair costs
By Steve Schoonover, Chico Enterprise-Record |
PUBLISHED: February 22, 2018 at 10:46 am
Oroville – The state Department of Water Resources is still expecting the federal government to pay the bulk of the cost of repairing the Lake Oroville spillways.
The estimated cost is up to $870 million, and north state congressmen had indicated the Federal Emergency Management Agency had some doubts whether it could reimburse costs for a redesigned structure.
But DWR spokeswoman Erin Mellon said during a media call Wednesday that FEMA has paid 75 percent of costs that have been submitted thus far, and the state has no indication that is going to change.
In response to a question, Mellon said there had been a setback in getting the sixth hydroelectric generating turbine in the Hyatt Powerhouse back online.
Only five have been functioning since one broke in August 2015. It was thought earlier that the sixth would be back online mid-year, but Mellon said a test of a shut-off valve indicted additional repairs were needed. The target date has been moved back to the end of the year.
Getting the sixth turbine going would increase the amount of water that could be released from the lake through the powerhouse from 14,700 cubic feet per second to about 17,000 cfs.
Petersen said Kiewit planned to be ready May 1 to start phase 2 of the main spillway reconstruction. The start date will depend on the lake level, weather and other factors, however.
The program of work includes removal of the 730 feet at the top of the upper chute from the radial gates, and replacement with steel-reinforced structural concrete.
A 2.5-foot layer of steel-reinforced structural concrete will be placed over the over 1,050 feet of roller compacted concrete in the middle chute, and the roller compacted concrete walls of that section will be replaced with structural concrete.
The energy dissipaters at the base of the spillway also will be hydro-blasting and resurfaced.
Rain shuts Yosemite, threatens problems at tallest US dam
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/04/06/california-storm-may-test-spillway-at-nations-tallest-dam.html
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To the north, state officials warned this week that they may have to use
the partially rebuilt spillway at Oroville Dam for the first time since
repairs began on the badly damaged structure last summer.
Behind the dam, Lake Oroville has been filling up all winter,
and more water was coming in than flowing out Friday.
The water level was last at 793 feet.
If it reaches about 830 feet (253 meters), water managers say
they will open the gates to the spillway.