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In February 2017 water releases from Oroville Dam in Butte County, California about 80 miles north of Sacramento, caused damaged the dam’s main spillway and its emergency spillway. Nearly 200,000 residents downstream were evacuated as a precaution.
Since that time experts have been hired to find out what went wrong and how the dam, the tallest in the country, will be repaired. We continue to track the story, analyzing reports, talking to experts and investigating the wider implications of dam safety in the age of climate extremes.
Problems at two spillways at California’s Oroville Dam in February have resulted in months of analysis and reports about what went wrong and how much repairs will cost.
Engineers at Utah State University are testing water flows through a model of the Oroville Dam spillway to ensure America’s tallest dam can withstand the kind of freak surges that caused it to start breaking apart in February.
The spillway problems that occurred at the Oroville Dam in February may be part of more systemic issues in the dam industry, says Stanford dam expert Martin McCann, Jr.
Portions of Oroville Dam’s damaged spillway may have been built atop highly weathered rock, geologists say, a type vulnerable to erosion during the weeks of rain that led up to the disaster.
After a long history of problems, two river outlet valves deep inside Oroville Dam were not operating at a critical time this winter, eliminating one option to help manage severe storm runoff.
Jay Lund Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director, University of California
Heavy rains in the last few weeks have caused severe localized flooding and tested the strength of California’s levees and dams. As we take stock of all the events, some important lessons have emerged, writes U.C. Davis’ Jay Lund.
Juliet Christian-Smith Climate Scientist and California Water Expert, Union of Concerned Scientists
A new resolution from the State Water Resources Control Board would make sure that climate science is integral to all its work, providing a much-needed example for other agencies to follow, writes scientist Juliet Christian-Smith.
Millions of fish listed under the Endangered Species Act were being raised at a hatchery by the dam and have had to be moved because of conditions in the Feather River. But those same conditions have been a boon for wild fish.
Let’s not let a good crisis go to waste: Here are six important conversations that need to happen in the aftermath of problems at Oroville Dam in Northern California.
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