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Santa Fe Dam deemed potentially unsafe by Army Corps
1-24-11 | Whittier Daily News | By Ben Baeder
Charlotte city officials first disclosed a proposal to move coal ash from the banks of Mountain Island IRWINDALE - The Santa Fe Dam has been given the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' second-worst designation after a team of engineers found it was potentially dangerous.

The earthen barrier protects hundreds of thousands of people in El Monte, Baldwin Park, South El Monte, La Puente, Bassett and unincorporated Whittier from catastrophic floods that deluged communities along the San Gabriel River until the Santa Fe and Whittier Narrows dams were built in the 1940s and '50s.

The Santa Fe Dam in 2009 was given the Dam Safety Action Class II rating, which means "the combination of life or economic consequences with probability of failure is very high," according to Army Corps guidelines.

The Whittier Narrows Dam a few miles to the south - which protects 500,000 people - earned the same designation in 2006, Army Corps officials revealed in November.

Engineers said they found no major flaws in the Santa Fe Dam, but a major earthquake or massive flood could damage the earth-and-stone barrier, said Rick Leifield, dam safety officer of the Army Corps' Los Angeles District. read more

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On 50th anniversary, survivors recall Baldwin Hills dam collapse
Hundreds file into what is now Upper Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, where the reservoir dam burst Dec. 14, 1963, killing five.
12-14-13 | Los Angeles Times | By Bob Pool
Survivors of the sudden collapse of the Baldwin Hills Reservoir dam gathered Saturday in a grassy valley to commemorate the disaster that sent 150 million gallons of Los Angeles drinking water cascading into their homes 50 years ago.

Hundreds filed into what is now Upper Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, where the earthen edge of the 66-foot-deep reservoir — holding 292 million gallons — ruptured Dec. 14, 1963, sending a 50-foot wall of water roaring into homes and cars along nearby Cloverdale Avenue.

Five people were killed, 65 hillside homes were torn apart and 210 other homes and apartments were damaged in an area between Jefferson and La Cienega boulevards and La Brea Avenue.

The father of Barbara Whitaker, a 76-year-old retired executive assistant from Irvine, was one of those who died. Archie V. MacDonald was 71 when he helped evacuate his wife, Marie, from the 627-unit Village Green residential complex.

"Mom got across to the car, but Dad went back to see if he'd locked the front door. The water just picked him up and carried him off," recalled Whitaker, who had not returned to the reservoir site since the disaster. "Mom held on to a tree and was rescued by a helicopter." read more

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Oroville Dam earthquake investigation may be needed
11-29-13 | Sacramento Bee | By Matt Weiser
A recent federal inspection has concluded that Oroville Dam, the tallest dam in the nation, needs a comprehensive earthquake safety assessment. The dam on the Feather River is the primary storage facility for the State Water Project, the state-owned plumbing system that provides drinking water to more than 23million people across California. Failure of the dam could inundate not only the city of Oroville but numerous other communities downstream, including Yuba City, Marysville and even West Sacramento.

The inspection was conducted in 2010 by consultants working for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees hydroelectric dams in the United States. It is the most recent inspection of its kind, which are conducted every five years. No significant flaws were found in the dam itself. Inspectors recommended the earthquake safety assessment based on newer information about earthquake hazards in the vicinity of the dam. A copy of the inspection was reviewed by The Bee following a Public Records Act request.

Officials at the California Department of Water Resources, which manages the dam, say they don't plan to conduct the recommended review because they don't think the expense is justified. But they may be compelled to do it by state or federal regulators who are still considering the recommendation.

Oroville Dam, at 742 feet high, was completed in 1968 and is the tallest dam in the United States. It stores 3.5million acre-feet of water, or enough to serve 7 million average households for a year. In California, only Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River stores more water.

State water officials say the dam is sufficiently strong. "Even with today's understanding of seismicity and ground motions, Oroville still would meet the criteria that would be set today," said David Panec, chief of dam safety at the DWR's operations and maintenance division. "The dam is essentially overbuilt."

Independent experts concur. Like Panec, they point to a 5.7-magnitude quake that occurred near the dam in 1975 that caused no damage to the structure. Subsequent investigations showed that the dam performed well and was not weakened by the quake.

Not everyone is confident. Ronald Stork, a senior policy advocate at Friends of the River, said the call for further study of Oroville Dam should not be taken lightly. In recent years, after modern studies, numerous other earthen dams in California have been shown to be vulnerable to earthquakes. For instance, Folsom Dam upstream of Sacramento is now undergoing millions of dollars in upgrades to withstand earthquakes. Similar work is planned at Lake Perris in Riverside County and San Luis Reservoir in Merced County, both also part of the State Water Project. read more

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Reclamation plans work on Prosser Creek, Fontenelle
11-5-13 | HydroReview
Knight Construction & Supply Inc. won a $2.1 million contract from the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation to refurbish gates at Prosser Creek Dam in California.
Knight will remove, refurbish and replace two guard gates and two control gates; fabricate gate leaf seats, gate body seats, and leaf lip reconfiguration bars; and install new hoist shutoff and bypass valves. Prosser Creek Dam was built in 1962 and is part of Reclamation's Washoe Project. read more

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New TID Dam Safety Effort Off to Good Start
11-2-13 | Turlock City News | By Alex Cantatore
The Turlock Irrigation District is running one dam safe operation, thanks to new Chief Dam Safety Engineer Peggy Harding. Harding's hiring has its roots in a May 3, 2012 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decision which required dam owners to develop a safety program. The lack of such a program had contributed to some incidents in the past, FERC said.

TID filed a safety plan for Don Pedro Dam with FERC on Nov. 1, 2012. And on March 19, the district signed a resolution reaffirming its commitment to safety – and hired Harding, who has 30 years of experience in dam safety. Harding started with TID in June, and led FERC officials on an inspection of Don Pedro Dam on the very same day.

"My job is to consolidate all dam and dam-related functions under one position," explained Harding. So far, Harding has conducted independent safety reviews of all TID dams – Don Pedro, LaGrange, Dawson, and Turlock Lake. All were found to be in acceptable condition, and safe for continued operation.

That doesn't mean TID can't improve conditions, though. Harding is tracking a list of action items to improve safety, ranging from vegetation control on smaller dikes to containing rockfalls above the Don Pedro powerhouse.

Harding is also at work on an emergency action plan for the district, and a training course for dam operators to understand what to do when things go wrong.

And there's yet more work to be done. Harding hopes to establish a formal safety program for TID's smaller dams, and conduct a thorough review of the design and performance of all dams in the system. read more

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Gov't officials hold public meetings for dam work, lake recreation concerns
9-6-13 | KBAK-TV | By Bakersfieldnow.com staff
LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. – Officials are holding a pair of public meetings to address recreation concerns during Lake dam work.

The Isabella Lake Dam Safety Modification Project, with construction slated for 2017, will address over-topping, seismic and seepage issues identified with Isabella Lake's main and auxiliary dams to reduce the likelihood of dam failure.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Forest Service will hold meetings 6-8 p.m. Sept. 25 at Kernville Chamber of Commerce and the next day from 9-11 a.m. at Lake Isabella Veterans and Senior Center, according to the Corps.

The purpose of the meetings is to gather information from local residents interested in recreation at the lake about possible impacts anticipated as part of the dam modernization project. read more

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Isabella Lake levels exceed safety limit
7-11-11 | The Bakersfield Californian | By Steven Mayer
Now is not a good time for a big earthquake on the Kern River Fault.

For the first time since 2006, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers placed a safety restriction on the amount of water stored behind the two earthen dams at Isabella Lake, the reservoir has exceeded that safety zone.

Officials say a certain amount of wiggle-room is built into the restrictions and the violation of the limit is not cause for immediate concern. However, they have directed the Kern River water master to release more water downstream.

By last weekend, what was left of the season's massive snowpack combined with extremely hot temperatures and the arrival of monsoonal thundershowers to send more water into the lake than was anticipated.

It was five years ago that the now 58-year-old Isabella dam system was identified by the Corps as one of the most at-risk facilities in the nation.

Not only was water found to be seeping beneath the dam but the geological foundation on which the auxiliary dam was constructed was determined to be made of an alluvial rock material that could be "potentially liquefiable" in a strong earthquake, causing the collapse of the dam and allowing a massive wall of water to race through the Kern River Canyon toward Bakersfield. read more

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The Whittier Narrows Dam a few miles to the south - which protects 500,000 people - earned the same designation in 2006, Army Corps officials revealed in November.

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