California Drought

[California]

DWR's playlist of YouTube videos. Latest at the moment is a 3/2 drone flyover showing progress clearing the channel.

Oroville Spillway Incident - YouTube

 

[EddieWalker]

It's very impressive seeing all that equipment there!!! Why are they moving all the rock and dirt? and where to?

 

[California]

That's the debris that washed down the hill and plugged up the river downstream from the generating plant. This artificial dam downstream made it impossible to release reservoir water through the generating plant. There was also danger of the water rising so high it would submerge and destroy the generators.

They are re-opening the Feather River downstream from the generating plant.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm not sure if I understand. Did the debris from the spillway create a dam that allowed the water in the river to rise to a point that the water is now higher then the generators? If so, I didn't see anything like that in the video. It looks like they are dredging the river, but not affecting how high it is with the excavators on the barges. Why are the moving all the rock from the hillside and where are they putting it?

 

[orezok]

Too bad CA won't put those deadbeat homeless men they are providing housing for to work fixing that spillway. That'd be the best thing for them.

I understand there are homeless in need but I bet 70% of them are just bums.

Of course you know that a high percentage of homeless are former military that served in Afganistan and Iraq and are suffering from PTSD. I guess that you don't like the military either!

 

[aczlan]

I'm not sure if I understand. Did the debris from the spillway create a dam that allowed the water in the river to rise to a point that the water is now higher then the generators? If so, I didn't see anything like that in the video.

When they were dumping water down the main spillway (and then down the hillside), it made the "island" that they are now removing.
There was also enough water moving "upstream" that the water level at the base of the dam/powerhouse outlet dropped close to 20' when they shut off the spillway.

It looks like they are dredging the river, but not affecting how high it is with the excavators on the barges. Why are the moving all the rock from the hillside and where are they putting it?

It looks like they are dredging from one end to the other, but leaving a "plug" at the downstream end so they don't have as much water flow to deal with.

I think they are stockpiling it somewhere uphill, but I am not sure.

Aaron Z

 

[prichard]

Not pointing fingers at any one individual but it amazes me how far off topic things can stray. How's the weather in California these days? Here's the report;

United States Drought Monitor > Home

Thank you

 

[California]

In the 3/2 video at 1:48 it looks like they are trucking the debris uphill and dumping it on a shoulder downstream from the emergency spillway, maybe 200 ft elevation above the river.

 

[lilranch2001]

I am curious how they were able to get environmental permits so quickly to do this work

 

[California]

I am curious how they were able to get environmental permits so quickly to do this work

Easy, this is finally an instance where all the stakeholders have the same goal.

 

[California]

I'm not sure if I understand. Did the debris from the spillway create a dam that allowed the water in the river to rise to a point that the water is now higher then the generators?

Overview. Photo taken 3/1, as they began to remove the erosion debris out of the river channel.

It seems that area at the far left has been cleared to receive the material.

Source with more photos.

 

[k0ua]

Overview. Photo taken 3/1, as they began to remove the erosion debris out of the river channel.

It seems that area at the far left has been cleared to receive the material.

Source with more photos.

Thank you, that was the picture I needed to understand this.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks, this picture really explains what is going on!!!!

 

[dickfoster]

I was thinking more along the scale of a string of bunker-blasters!

Not like that plan to make a freeway cut all the way through the Bristol Mountains (Mohave desert) all at once! (to build I-40, a more direct replacement for Route 66).

Caltrans' in-house newsletter had a different description of that proposal than what I see on Wikipedia. According to an interview with a former chief design engineer, AEC visited and offered their instant-pass proposal. Caltrans thought it was a crackpot idea and that's as far as it got.

I think one thing critical to Caltrans but not considered by AEC is a roadway needs a stable base, building on rubble of uneven depth will never be stable and worst-case could fail like this spillway. Plus perhaps the earthmoving required to clean up the blasting mess might be as great as the earthmoving required for conventional construction so no overall benefit/cost. Then there's the radiation-in-the wind issue.....

LOL.

BTW I asserted earlier on that I did not see any reinforcement used in the spillway floor but others said it was there. With these new pics I still do not see any rebar or other reinforcement in that concrete. Which is why I contend that it failed and touched this whole fiasco off. I'm no civil engineer but I'd think reinforcing that spill way would be mandatory in order to prevent a failure just like this.

 

[aczlan]

LOL.

BTW I asserted earlier on that I did not see any reinforcement used in the spillway floor but others said it was there. With these new pics I still do not see any rebar or other reinforcement in that concrete. Which is why I contend that it failed and touched this whole fiasco off. I'm no civil engineer but I'd think reinforcing that spill way would be mandatory in order to prevent a failure just like this.

Remember, these are ~15" thick slabs in a spillway that is close to 200' wide.
Most of the pictures posted are not close enough to see the rebar.
Edit: Here is one which is close enough to show the rebar, red circles are the anchors going into the rock:

Original source: Pixel - California Department of Water Resources
Marked up version source: Oroville Dam Spillway Failure | Page 25 | Metabunk


Aaron Z

 

[kloudbuster]

There was rebar in the photos is saw. I did expect that there would be ALOT more. I am also used to house construction.

 

[bcp]

Rebar, from

https://www.metabunk.org/attachments/20170209-155604-2mqdd-jpg.24420/




Bruce

 

[ForestGrump]

Point out the power plant failure. Blockage of the discharge area say nothing about the condition of the power plant. Yes, it cannot currently be used but there is nothing wrong with it.

If it can't be used it has failed!

 

[ForestGrump]

Easy, this is finally an instance where all the stakeholders have the same goal.

California has plans for emergency repairs. After the Northridge Earthquake major damage was done to several interstate bridges. Select contractors with excellent resumes, job experience, were selected to remove and replace these bridges - within 30 days with a large bonus for each day completed ahead of schedule and an equally huge penalty for each day late, including permits.

Everyone works together and some were completed in 17 days. All were completed on time.

 

[turnkey4099]

Overview. Photo taken 3/1, as they began to remove the erosion debris out of the river channel.

It seems that area at the far left has been cleared to receive the material.

Source with more photos.

Thanks. That one photo clears up a lot of questions about just what happened and what they are doing about it!