Are other large California dams likely to have to use their spillways during this year’s spring melt?
If so, do we know anything about the status of their spillways, and their ability to handle an unusually large spring melt when they are already nearly full?
Shasta stores more water than Oroville.
Trinity apparently has significantly less peak release capacity than needed in a major event, and is already nearly full.
Somehow I suspect neither of these dams has been properly maintained.
Power industry consultant proposes dual design Oroville Dam spillway(Apr 28, 2017) A power industry consulting firm has proposed a design for the Oroville Dam spillways which involves not repairing the current one, but building a new, wider spillway.
The designer says the structure’s capacity would handle flows of 300,000 cubic-feet per second.
Kenneth Viney, manager of CoastalGen Inc., based in Napa, filed suggestions Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC.
Viney said based on some engineering specifications information he has provided on dams in the past, construction didn’t go through, as his firm pointed out flaws in a design like trying to build upon a limestone base.
“This is what we do — project planning,” Viney said. “We do an overview of the project and say, ‘This looks good or it doesn’t.”
CoastalGen Inc. has been a part of projects like appraising power stations for Southern California Edison and giving design input on hydroelectric plants in the James Bay Project in Quebec.
“We work all over the world and see things other people can’t see because of our experience,” Viney said
http://www.chicoer.com/article/NA/20170426/NEWS/170429806