Brown engineering
There is no state in the union or place in the world more dependent on hydraulic engineering than California, which is why the wave of doubt caused by the very serious problems with the Oroville Dam is so unusual that it is nearly unthinkable.
For generations, California universities have been producing engineers to develop every aspect of the natural environment of our state for the profit of those with the capital to take advantage and transform the landscape to unimaginably ugly-scapes of urban wastelands and industrial agribusiness -- deteriorating tracts and cows knee-deep in their own manure.
To imagine that hydraulic engineering might have actually failed to control the Feather River is no problem for Californians old enough to remember the stories of fishermen of a previous generation risking their lives in the annual fly-fishing adventure called "fishing the Feather." But, that generation is so old now that its members can remember having their juvenile hands shaken by former Gov. Pat Brown when he was still campaigning for state Attorney General. And that generation is no majority now.
The majority of Californians today have no idea what the Feather River could do to Marysville and Yuba City, and did do, regularly in times past. They've only heard of what the Russian River used to do, or what the great tributary rivers to the San Joaquin River did regularly in the Valley. That's because the vast alluvial fans caused by recurrent floods are no longer replenished with fresh sediments and are now, to an increasing extent, irrigated with groundwater, their immense aquifers being hollowed out to the point of collapse by a form of agriculture so immensely contemptuous of the natural resources it devours that desertification is the obvious near-term finale.
This final draw on the aquifers is also the result of hydraulic engineering, the perfection of pumps so large that any sane government would declare them illegal on environmental grounds.
Today's profits for a few agribusinessmen in the export trade of a few mono-cropped commodities are robbing future generations of the ability to farm this land. Instead of leaving the land "better than they found it," once an avowed aim of American agriculture, this form of agriculture, determined by monopoly finance capital rather than sane farming principles, ruins what it touches. And every step of the way, engineering has enhanced the capacity to exploit and degrade the land, the surface and underground water, and the lives of the communities dominated by this industry for the enrichment of a few.
For more than half a century, the Brown family, so canny and basically humane in many other areas of government and regions of the state in the long course of their liberal leadership, has be the well-paid tool of agribusiness. From obstruction of lawsuits against the Friant Dam in the early 1950's to the Delta Water Fix of today, Edmund G. "Pat" and Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown were there, as state attorneys general as governors, handmaidens to the immense hydraulic engineering projects that have produced what Pat Brown used to call "this wonderful Great Big Number One State of Ours."
You bet! -- blj
-- blj
7-26-17
San Francisco Chronicle
Oroville Dam flaws don’t bode well for tunnels, train projects
Dan Walters
http://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Bad-Oroville-Dam-design-doesn-t-...
Slowly — but surely — we are learning that the near-catastrophic failure of Oroville Dam’s main spillway wasn’t truly caused by weather, even though the state claims that in seeking federal aid for repairs.
Rather, it resulted from poor engineering and construction when the nation’s highest dam was rising more than a half-century ago as the centerpiece of the State Water Project, and poor maintenance since its completion.
The latest evidence is a huge report by a team of engineering experts, headed by Robert Bea and Tony Johnson of the University of California’s Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.
It concluded that the dam’s fundamental flaws were compounded by decades of neglect by the state Department of Water Resources and Division of Safety of Dams.
“The gated spillway was managed to failure by DWR and DSOD,” the damning report declared.
One of the abysmal failures cited was “the recently exposed existence of DSOD inspection reports dating back to 1989. For reasons yet to be fully determined, identified deficiencies were either ignored, treated as low priority, not acted upon or a combination thereof.”
The 124-page report added that “complacency, lack of industry standard level maintenance, and possibly pressure from internal DWR management and external State Water Contractors’representatives to hold down maintenance costs were key contributors.”
Finally, and most ominously, the study team suggested that Oroville’s problems are not confined to the spillway, whose collapse last February led to the near-failure of an auxiliary spillway, a threat of failure in the dam itself, and widespread evacuations of those living along the Feather River north of Sacramento.
The Bea-Johnson report says the dam may be “facing a breach danger from a serious and dangerous form of a slow-motion failure mode.”
DWR has insisted all along that despite the spillway failure, the earthen-fill dam itself is “sound and safe.”
Shoddy engineering and design and neglectful maintenance are serious business. If what the other experts say is accurate, it may explain why state officials from Gov. Jerry Brown downward have been so closed-mouthed about what went wrong.
If it wasn’t the weather, but human error, that created the problem, then the state’s plea for federal aid is bogus.
But there’s an even more pertinent question raised by the Bea-Johnson study — whether the state is even capable of competently building and maintaining huge public works projects.
One recalls the more recent example of the Oakland Bay Bridge. It not only took a quarter-century to design and build the replacement, but costs wound up four times their original estimate and after it was completed, it was revealed that there were major construction flaws that the Department of Transportation didn’t disclose but investigative journalism by the Sacramento Bee exposed. When asked about it, Brown infamously replied, “S— happens.”
Meanwhile, Brown wants the state to build two more mega-projects — the delta tunnels and the bullet train. If Oroville Dam and the Bay Bridge set the standard, maybe those new projects are disasters waiting to happen.
Dan Walters is a columnist for CALmatters, a public interest journalism venture. Go to www.calmatters.org
7-27-17
Chico Enterprise Record
Oroville Dam’s ‘green spot’ raises new worries
Risa Johnson
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/27/oroville-dams-green-spot-raises-ne...
OROVILLE — A new report from a UC Berkeley group researching what caused the Lake Oroville spillway to fail in February is concerned that a green spot on the nation’s tallest dam might mean it is leaking.
This is not the first time the “green spot” on the southern end of Oroville Dam has been brought up. It has been discussed at community meetings, where state Department of Water Resources officials have said it is caused by rain or is a natural spring.
Robert Bea and his team at UC Berkeley are far from convinced. Bea is a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley and a risk management expert who has been recognized by the U.S. Senate for his review of disaster management following the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.
He said a lot of thought went into deciding when to publish the findings, if at all. He understands the unease residents are likely to feel from reading about the report, but in his opinion, the DWR’s explanation for the spot warrants posing the question publicly.
“The consequences of not getting the right answer are very high,” Bea said. “I don’t think anyone should encourage a casual approach.”
DWR officials have addressed the spot of vegetation before, chalking it up to the rainy season or calling it a natural spring. Bea said those claims are both problematic.
For one, he said, the green area was there for years, including during the drought, not solely wet periods. If caused by rain, it shouldn’t be concentrated in one spot. There should be other green spots all around the dam, the authors of the report noted.
As to the claim the spot is a natural spring, the vegetation does not follow a normal path, Bea said — streams do not go uphill. It is also expanding in a “near perfect” horizontal direction, the report states.
“So why are reputable DWR engineers and representatives giving answers that are easily refuted?” the report asks. “Worse, these answers infer a demonstration of a lack of engineering competency.”
To show the organization is taking the issue seriously, it should fix the dam’s out-of-commission internal piezometers, which measure the pressure of water, test the wet spot, analyze the results and release the findings, he said.
“I’ve got to find out what the patient is sick from,” Bea said.
Based upon the information available, the concern is that the wet spot indicates it could be caused by something called differential settlement, which would likely lead to a failure of the structure, he said.
Differential settlement can occur when soil under the foundation shifts. The foundation settles unequally and can cause cracks to form.
“And water likes cracks,” Bea said.
The group is concerned that if uncontrolled seepage is happening in the Oroville Dam, it could be in danger of a breach. DWR did drill the spot in 2016, inspection records show. Bea questioned why the organization was excavating there if it knew the spot was from rainfall.
In response to the report, Erin Mellon with the Natural Resources Agency, which oversees DWR, maintained the vegetation is caused by rain.
“These green spots were first noticed just after construction of the dam when there wasn’t even water in the reservoir,” Mellon said. “The preliminary finding from DWR’s inspections and studies show that this is an area that collects water from rainfall, causing vegetation to grow. However, DWR will continue to work with regulating agencies to completely resolve this issue.”
She added that the organization was working on a preliminary report explaining the green spot, which would be made public.
The Oroville Dam Advisory Group, a 15-member team at UC Berkeley, says it has put approximately 3,000 hours of work into analyzing what caused the Oroville Dam spillways to fail. It has received input from former engineers, operators and managers for DWR, concerned citizens and senior faculty.
“These people willingly volunteered their knowledge, experience, documentation and advice as very important resources that have been integrated into this report,” the report states.
Bea and Tony Johnson, co-authors of the report, work with the university’s Center for Catastrophic Risk Management.
Another independent group, the forensic team, is analyzing the root causes of the spillway crisis. Its final report will be released this fall.
DWR has set Nov. 1 as the deadline for this season’s construction work on the spillway. Once high water in the lake stops work, reconstruction will begin in the spring or summer.
7-27-17
Sacramento Bee
California orders closer look at these 93 dams after Oroville crisis
By Dale Kasler And Ryan Sabalow
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/water-and-drought/article164...
California officials have ordered owners of 93 dams to reinspect their flood-control spillways following the Oroville Dam crisis, saying the spillways need a closer look following a preliminary review.
The list released by the Department of Water Resources includes some of the largest dams in California, such as the New Exchequer Dam on the Merced River, New Bullards Bar on the Yuba River, and Lake Almanor Dam on the Feather River in Plumas County. Each holds back reservoirs roughly the size of Folsom Lake, which can store about 977,000 acre-feet of water.
Also on the list is New Don Pedro Dam, on the Tuolumne River, which is about twice the size of Folsom and contains the sixth largest reservoir in California.
DWR’s list also features scores of obscure facilities, including two owned along the American River by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District: Ice House and Union Valley dams.
The 93 dams represent less than 10 percent of the 1,250 dams overseen by the Department of Water Resources’ dam safety division.
DWR said the probes were ordered in recognition of the emergency at Oroville, which prompted a mass evacuation, and the fact that California’s dams are 70 years old on average.
Preliminary assessments showed each of the spillways on the list “may have potential geologic, structural or performance issues that could jeopardize its ability to safely pass a flood event,” according to letters the dam-safety division sent to the dam owners. “Therefore, we are requesting that you perform a comprehensive condition assessment of the spillway as soon as possible.”
DWR officials have been notifying the owners of the affected dams since June. The complete list was released Thursday by the agency.
“It will not be known which spillways, if any, will need repairs until the comprehensive assessments are completed and reviewed by (the dam-safety division),” DWR said in a note accompanying the list. “Dam owners of these spillways have been directed to perform any needed maintenance repairs prior to the next flood season. (The division) has already received immediate responses from many dam owners in compliance with the notice.”
Calvin Curtin of Turlock Irrigation District, which co-owns New Don Pedro, said the district already conducted several inspections last winter, before and after the Oroville emergency, and “found no items of concern.” Nonetheless, the district will comply with the state’s order and is preparing for an in-depth look at the geologic conditions beneath New Don Pedro.
“We don’t believe the same conditions exist here that exist at Oroville,” Curtin said.
SMUD engineer Dudley McFadden said the Sacramento utility will conduct intensive inspections at Ice House and Union Valley next month, with a particular emphasis on the “geology underneath the spillway.” He said preliminary inspections in April showed some “areas of concrete are starting to peel off” but in general the two facilities are in good shape. Union Valley is SMUD’s largest dam, guarding a reservoir about one-fourth the size of Folsom Lake.
At least one of the dams on DWR’s list has attracted attention from area residents. Robert Eberhardt, a Chico X-ray technician, grew concerned when he was boating on Lake Almanor on the Feather River earlier this year and examined Almanor’s spillway.
He said the spillway appeared to be crumbling in places. Photos he shot with his cellphone and shared with The Sacramento Bee appear to show cracks, places where cracks had been filled but the fill material was crumbling away, and even a small cedar tree growing out of the concrete. The lake can hold 1.3 million acre-feet of water, or 300,000 acre-feet more than Folsom.
Eberhardt said he feared that if the spillway was ever used, it could wash away and threaten the integrity of the main earthen dam.
“The entire lake would drain into Oroville Lake and it would happen overnight,” Eberhardt said.
A 2016 annual inspection report compiled by the Division of Safety of Dams noted some “freeze-thaw” damage to the concrete floor, but inspectors said the chute walls were stable and “the structure remains in satisfactory condition for continued use.”
The dam is owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which has been monitoring “surface damage on the floor of the spillway,” said utility spokesman Denny Boyles. The damage has been caused by water seepage and “affects only the upper surface of the concrete and has not progressed to the point where repairs are necessary,” he said.
“PG&E has inspected these areas and will continue to monitor them for evidence of further deterioration,” Boyles said in an email. “If and when repairs become necessary, PG&E will repair the damaged areas as part of its regular maintenance program.”
In Thursday’s report, the state identified 11 other PG&E dams besides Almanor as needing further examination. Boyles said the utility is performing those inspections, following “in-depth evaluations we conducted this winter.”
“Our inspections to date have not identified any issues that require urgent repairs,” he said.
When it comes to Almanor, at least one local official isn’t particularly worried. Sherrie Thrall, a Plumas County supervisor, told The Bee that Almanor’s spillway wasn’t needed this year or even during the huge storms of 1997 that flooded wide swaths of the Sacramento Valley. She said if water was ever sent down the spillway, there would be so much, the town of Chester would be underwater. The spillway and dam also survived a nearby earthquake that registered 5.7 on the Richter Scale in 2013.
A 2014 inspection report noted that the dam’s main outlet, a structure separate from the spillway, was inspected after the earthquake and showed no apparent problems.
Federal and state officials have openly talked for months about toughening inspection programs following the near disaster at Oroville.
“One thing we all have in common is that we didn’t predict this happening,” said Frank Blackett, a regional engineer at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, in a speech in Sacramento in May.
David Gutierrez, a DWR consultant and former chief of the dam-safety division, said routine annual inspections generally aren’t able to detect the types of problems that were lurking at the Oroville spillway. “We’re trying to find the obvious issues,” he said in an interview in June. “It’s a visual inspection. You’re climbing things. You’re not X-raying.”
Oroville’s crisis began when a giant crater opened in the main spillway Feb. 7. DWR officials throttled back water releases to limit the damage, but a heavy rainstorm filled Lake Oroville and water began spilling over the adjacent emergency spillway for the first time in the lake’s 48-year history. When it appeared the emergency spillway might fail, officials ordered the immediate evacuation of 188,000 downstream residents. DWR quickly ramped up releases over the main spillway, arresting the flow of water over the emergency structure, and lake levels fell. The evacuation order was lifted two days later.
The exact cause of the crater has yet to be determined. An independent forensic team has cited two-dozen possible factors but won’t finish its investigation until this fall.
DAMS THAT NEED SPILLWAY INSPECTIONS
The list of 93 dams that must reinspect their flood-control spillways:
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Dam name
Dam owner
Almaden Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Antelope Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Beardsley Dam
Tri-Dam Project
Bell Canyon Dam
City of Saint Helena
Big Creek Dam
Pine Mountain Lake Association
Bishop Creek Intake No. 2 Dam
Southern California Edison
Briones Dam
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Butt Valley Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Calero Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Camanche Dam
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Dam name
Dam owner
Castaic Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Cedar Springs Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Chabot Dam
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Cherry Valley Dam
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Cogswell Dam
Los Angeles Department of Public Works
Conn Creek Dam
City of Napa
Courtright Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Coyote Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Crane Valley Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Del Valle Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Don Pedro Dam
Turlock Irrigation District
Donnells Dam
Tri-Dam Project
El Capitan Dam
City of San Diego
Elmer J. Chesbro Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Florence Lake Dam
Southern California Edison
Frenchman Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Gibraltar Dam
City of Santa Barbara
Grizzly Valley Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Guadelupe Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Hernandez Dam
San Benito County Water District
Dam name
Dam owner
Huntington Lake 1 Dam
Southern California Edison
Ice House Dam
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Indian Valley Dam
Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District
Iron Canyon Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Iron Gate Dam
PacifiCorp
Jackson Meadows Dam
Nevada Irrigation District
James L. Lenihan Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
James Turner Dam
City and County of San Francisco
Lake Almanor Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Lake Curry Dam
City of Vallejo
Dam name
Dam owner
Lake Fordyce Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Lake Hemet Dam
Lake Hemet Municipal Water District
Lake Hodges Dam
City of San Diego
Lake Spaulding Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Leroy Anderson Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Little Grass Valley Dam
South Feather Water and Power Agency
Long Valley Dam
City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Lopez Dam
San Luis Obispo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District
Los Padres Dam
California American Water Company
Magalia Dam
Paradise Irrigation District
Dam name
Dam owner
Main Strawberry Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Mark Edson Dam
Georgetown Divide Public Utility District
Mathews Dam
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
McCloud Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
McSwain Dam
Merced Irrigation District
Morena Dam
City of San Diego
Nacimiento Dam
Monterey County Water Resources Agency
New Bullards Bar Dam
Yuba County Water Agency
New Exchequer Dam
Merced Irrigation District
New Upper San Leandro Dam
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Dam name
Dam owner
Newell Dam
City of Santa Cruz
North Fork Dam
Pacheco Pass Water District
O'Shaughnessy Dam
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Paradise Dam
Paradise Irrigation District
Peters Dam
Marin Municipal Water District
Puddingstone Dam
Los Angeles Department of Public Works
Pyramid Dam
California Department of Water Resources
Rector Creek Dam
California Department of Veteran Affairs
Robert A Skinner Dam
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Robert W. Matthews Dam
Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District
Rollins Dam
Nevada Irrigation District
Salt Springs Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
San Andreas Dam
City and County of San Francisco
San Antonio Dam
Monterey County Water Resources Agency
San Pablo Dam
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Santiago Creek Dam
Serrano Water District & Irvine Ranch Water District
Savage (Lower Otay) Dam
City of San Diego
Scotts Flat Dam
Nevada Irrigation District
Seeger Dam
Marin Municipal Water District
Shaver Lake Dam
Southern California Edison
Dam name
Dam owner
Sly Creek Dam
South Feather Water and Power Agency
Sly Park Dam
El Dorado Irrigation District
Soulajule Dam
Marin Municipal Water District
Stevens Creek Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Sugar Pine Dam
Foresthill Public Utility District
Tiger Creek Regulator Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Tulloch Dam
Tri-Dam Project
Union Valley Dam
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Uvas Dam
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Vermilion Valley Dam
Southern California Edison
Villa Park Dam
City of Orange
Whale Rock Dam
Whale Rock Commission
Wishon Dam
Pacific Gas and Electric Company