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.
VIDEO: Deadline day for repairing Oroville Dam emergency Spillway
ABC 10 » Crews lay the last layer of concrete on the Oroville Dam spillway before the state Department of Water Resources’ deadline to have the structure ready to pass flows of 100,000 cubic-feet per second. This video was taken October 30, 2017
Cost to fix Oroville Dam spillway nearly doubles
ABC 10 » Officials now fix the price to rebuild the spillway at $500 million, up from the original $275 million estimate. The reasons include having to dig farther to find solid bedrock, carry away the extra debris and then fill in the deeper hole. Design changes also added to the cost.
