I would lay that on the spillway. They didn’t design to have the river clogged up with almost 2 million cubic yards of debris that was washed down the hillside as the spillway waters cut their own ravine. That’s what backed things up. IMHO.
The power plant was designed to operate in concert with the rest of the complex, which was also expected to operate properly.
I would think that a main shutoff valve of some sort on the tailrace would be useful here (they might have one already, I don’t know).
The Oroville Dam is starting to look like an emergency room triage.
The Oroville Dam is starting to look like an emergency room triage.
That’s true.
Conversely, it was expected that the emergency spillway would be used. Then again, the ES seems like it was a box to be checked off.