Groundbreaking held for long-planned Isabella Dam safety upgrades

Bakersfield Now » Phase two of the construction will cost taxpayers $200 million and includes work to raise the dam 16 feet and plug up areas where water is leaking through. The work will also increase the seismic preparedness of the auxiliary dam, which officials have learned sits atop an active earthquake fault. When the dam was first built in 1953 it was believed the fault was inactive.