Oroville Dam2022-04-22T07:45:16-08:00

Oroville Dam

One year after the Oroville Dam’s concrete spillway ruptured on Feb. 7, 2017, crews working day and night have made the most critical repairs to what has become an $870 million project. Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Neb., fixed the dam’s main spillway and an emergency spillway that also was damaged by unprecedented water releases forced by record rainfall in Northern California.

The work has continued in 2018, while the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) and Washington, D.C., discuss the extent to which the Federal Emergency Management Agency will pay for repairs. Meanwhile, Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that codified the annual inspections DWR already conducts of the vast majority of the 1,249 dams the department oversees. The law requires “low hazard potential” dams be evaluated at least every other year.

Oroville Dam: Feds unsure whether they will pay for spillway repairs

The Mercury News » While it has been assumed the federal government will pay 75 percent of the now-$870 million cost for repairing the Oroville Dam spillways, the agency that actually would allocate the money has been hedging on whether that is the case. FEMA has stated it can’t fund a project where the agency determines there was a “lack of maintenance,” and can only provide reimbursements to bring facilities back to their “pre-disaster design,” according to the release.

February 7, 2018|

Cost of crisis at Oroville Dam reaches $870 million

SF Gate » The costs of dealing with last year’s near-disaster at the nation’s tallest dam have reached $870 million, California officials said Friday. The figure for emergency response and repairs following the crisis at Northern California’s Oroville Dam should stand, said Erin Mellon, spokeswoman for the state Department of Water Resources. The total was pegged at $660 million in October.

January 27, 2018|

Oroville Dam: DWR could have lost control of spillway gates during crisis

The Mercury News » The state Department of Water Resources could have lost control of the spillway radial gates for days during the Oroville Dam crisis if crucial power lines had gone down, according to department officials. This has since led some local groups to wonder why there was no backup power supply.

January 24, 2018|

Oroville Dam: Formerly classified memo describing spillway cracks now public

Chico Enterprise-Record » The previously secret state Department of Water Resources memorandum explaining the hairline cracks in the Oroville Dam spillway is now public.

December 11, 2017|

Oroville Team Passes Milestone, Presses on With Spillway Fix

Engineering News-Record » A mix of brute force and cutting-edge technology enabled contractors to replace a large portion of Oroville Dam’s spillway chute in just 165 days, meeting a Nov. 1 deadline set in anticipation of the start of northern California’s winter rainy season. Over the winter, emergency-spillway improvements will continue.

December 7, 2017|

Kiewit continues work at Oroville Dam

Chico Enterprise-Record » Phase two of construction Oroville Dam – with work on both spillways – might prove more challenging than the first feat, the contractor’s project director said in a media call Thursday.

November 30, 2017|

New spillway has cracks; DWR says no cause for alarm

Appeal Democrat / Associated Press » Small cracks have appeared in the new concrete in the main spillway at Oroville Dam, but the state says they were expected and nothing to worry about.

November 28, 2017|

DWR details next phase of Oroville Dam Spillway repairs

KRCR News / ABC 7 » There was nearly dead silence at the Oroville Dam Spillway, Sunday, for one of the first times since the erosion formed at the beginning of the year. But the California Department of Water Resources said that doesn’t mean it’s finished yet. The November 1 deadline to complete Phase 1 of repairs to the primary spillway was merely a milestone.

November 12, 2017|
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