My summary: The penstock (basically a big pipe) leading to the powerhouse at Bullards Bar Reservoir in California failed dramatically on Feb. 13. It will take some serious work to buff this one out...
Excellent reporting and video shots from the blancolirio channel. :-)
The dam itself is ok. The powerhouse, not so much...
Penstock is not Colgate. It was logged off. Switch to Crest.
Hate to be a Monday-morning quarterback, but progress depends upon learning from our mistakes.
The video suggests perhaps there was insufficient planning for the aftermath of a catastrophic failure, with subsequent water erosion greatly increasing the damage. Every contingency cannot be addressed, to be sure; then again, the Safety Factor for Dodger Stadium’s cantilevered grandstand, in earthquake country, is 7. There will be a call for “Batter up!”, but never one for “Fans down!”
Yuba Water Agency posted a documenty on their website the day before about a 1986 flood.
Yuba Water debuts documentary, “The Day the Levee Broke,” ahead of 40th anniversary of 1986 flood
News
Posted on February 12, 2026
https://www.yubawater.org/m/newsflash/Home/Detail/402
The docunmentary
Thanks for posting - it was great to hear from Juan Browne again - I remember well his perceptive reports a number of years back when the Oroville Dam situation almost became a major disaster.
New Colgate Powerhouse
New Colgate Powerhouse, Yuba Water Agency’s biggest, houses two of the largest single-cast Pelton Wheel turbines ever built. Water carried nearly five miles from New Bullards Bar Reservoir through a 26-foot-diameter tunnel is routed down a 15-foot-diameter penstock to drive Colgate’s two powerful turbines, producing a total of up to 350 megawatts of electricity.
Interesting math question. Assuming no movement, how much water would have benn in the 5 mile long 26 foot diameter underground pipe?
Then at the rate of speed how much water flowed through the pipe before they were able to shut it off (reports don’t say how long it took to turn off)? 10 minutes, 1 hour?
Oroville, not Orville.
I thought this was a sports story