This is a running commentary on the rapidly developing Oroville dam situation in California. Because the story is so fluid right now, there isn’t yet time to write a complete report.
I’ll have a tidy summary at some point, but first we have to scour and assemble the information.
The reason we cover such situations in detail as they develop is because we feel we can do a better job of condensing and presenting complex and rapid information than the mainstream news. We don’t sensationalize, we strive to use grounded facts every time, and we think such situations offer a learning moment to help orient us to the realities of the world in which we live, as well as how we should think about preparing and being prepared.
The bottom line is that the US has many poorly-maintained dams, bridges, water works and other key infrastructure. Even worse, we’ve built many of these structures using a form of concrete with re-bar for tensile reinforcement that will necessitate virtually 100% replacement of all concrete structures within 40 to 100 years of being built. Here's a previous report I wrote explaining this concrete situation in more detail.
So in this respect, the Oroville dam is a signpost for past shortsighted decision-making that will ultimately require very large sums of money for future maintenance and repair. Expect to see an increasing number of emergency failure threats like this appear in the years to come.
February 12th 2017 --9:11 p.m. (post #1)
This is a pretty shocking development. I'd been somewhat enjoying watching the spillway disgorge huge amounts of water, but apparently things took a turn for the worse.
THOUSANDS ORDERED TO EVACUATE AFTER OROVILLE DAM PREDICTED TO FAIL
OROVILLE, Calif. -- Officials have ordered thousands of residents near the Oroville Dam to evacuate the area, saying a "hazardous situation is developing" after an emergency spillway severely eroded.
The Butte County Sheriff's Office says the emergency spillway could fail within an hour unleashing uncontrolled flood waters from Lake Oroville.
The department says people in downstream areas need to leave the area immediately. It says residents of Oroville, a town of 16,000 people, should head north toward Chico and that other cities should follow orders from their local law enforcement agencies.
A major dam failure is a very rare, and possibly symbolic thing to occur at this time. Very much not "first world."
Sun, Feb 12, 2017 - 9:41pm
This was a very good piece of reporting by a private citizen...much better than Da Newz...which presumably didn't want to overly concern anyone...or something.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQxVmKnBgvc
At any rate, another great reason to keep your go bags organized, even if that means having your most important affairs in one place where you can get to them quickly.
The major issue is that the Oroville dam has too much water behind it. There are only three 'approved' ways for it to be released. I've pulled these three images from the above video.
1) is the hydro plant at the base of the dam. That has been shut down because of some sort of problem.
2) Is the concrete spillway. That is severely compromised (see pictures below) and is in danger of failing.
3) Is the emergency spillway. The problem there is that the water got high enough that it took an unapproved route there too...the unreinforced parking area is now spilling water.
There are no good choices left for releasing additional water. So the spillway may fail and the first, large modern dam in US history could fail. Wild.
Here's the damage to the spillway that was there before the additional releases had to happen...they had noticed an already weak spot in the spillway was being badly eroded, stopped the flow briefly, and found this:
And in this next photo you can clearly see what happened when they had to continue releasing via the spillway to avoid losing the entire emergency spillway which was also being eroded badly at the base.
Oops. No good choices left here.
You can clearly see that the emergency spillway is eating its way up towards the earth that is holding the water in the dam back. Bad choice.
But the emergency spillway is eroding badly both at the parking lot end and the far right side where emergency concrete was poured at the base of the emergency spillway just a day or two before the water topped it.
Sun, Feb 12, 2017 - 10:03pm
NBC now reporting that the spillway has failed. I have not confirmed this via a second source yet.
This is not the same thing as the dam failing...but it's a step closer to that.
Hopefully the bedrock stops the process before failure.
Here's the best (jargony, but seemingly knowledgeable and factual) account I've come across so far:
I have heard that the emergency spillway is eroding through cutback. This will be an evolutionary erosive failure. It will take some time for the cut back. Hopefully the erosion will be stopped at bedrock.
However, I fear that if the erosion of the emergency spillway, on the canted bedrock of the abutment communicates with the hydraulics of the principal spillway, this may result in a V notch failure.
This would be the most serious type of failure. I believe there to be a good chance of a loss of the gate structure on the left (facing downstream). I expect loss of rock and perhaps some of the weir of the emergency spillway.
The training wall between the emergency and the principal spillway is a likely place for failure of structure. I understand that significant releases, which will be uncontrolled will take place, the possibility of this becoming very serious does, indeed exist. I am sorry with all of my heart that this is taking place. This is one time that I want so deeply to be wrong. All of my best wishes are with you tonight.
Scott Cahill (update 1)
As I write the Oroville dam in California is eroding back toward a breach of the reservoir. I am a dam contractor. If you ever heard someone say "that dam contractor.." they may have been talking about me.
I have repaired hundreds of dams including ones like Oroville, which were in the process of failure. I know a lot about dams.
The spillway failure is a common type of failure, where phreatic, or surface water entered the spillway, migrating beneath the slabs. (A static element on a dynamic element, A hard element on a live element). The dam is hydrated and dehydrated as water levels rise and fall, moving, as soils swell from pressures and water mass. In times of high rain the phreatic surface (hydrated soils line) moves toward the surface, venting into the void so produced.
This creates a void. Moving water over the years has eroded soils from beneath the slab downstream and left a channel. Now, the spillway has been actuated in a high-flow event and the plates of the spillway have failed into the stream, scouring from beneath them. They will continue to fail as the water continues to flow. The hydraulic jump exacerbates this erosion.
If the flow continues for a long enough time, with sufficient velocity, the reservoir will be voided by the migration of the erosion to the pool (cut-back). I cannot tell if failure is imminent, from Ohio, but it is an unacceptable situation that has been allowed to develop. It is a case of pennies pinched producing dollars spent, perhaps tragedy.
What we can learn as a nation is the information that is being disseminated. Words chosen carefully, to not excite, to not scare. The issue, as it now stands is serious, life-threatening even. The officials, the owners reps, the media will tell us now, that there is nothing to be be frightened about - all under control (remember Katrina??).
We have, for so long, ignored the failing infrastructure of this great nation, Let us hope that a fatal failure is not necessary to get us to act. Past experience does not make me hopeful of that.
Oroville is 770' high, 6,920' long. It is one of the 20 largest dams in the world. If Oroville breaks, The city will be flooded.
Eight thousand three hundred and seventy five residents are at risk within the inundation zone. Two hundred thirty critical facilities in the city of Oroville are within the inundation zone, including; Eleven schools, twenty one day care and children service centers, fourteen elder care facilities, twenty six bridges will be lost, the airport, two fire stations, the government administration building, three law enforcement stations, the EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (brilliant) Two waste water treatment plants, the jail, and the Hospital. (from the City of Oroville local hazard mitigation plan update May, 2013)
We are not talking about a river rising, where people have time to evacuate. We are talking about a wall of debris, mud, and water taking out a city, buildings, roads, bridges, life, in a horrible instant.
When will we, at last mandate proper maintenance and inspection of these high hazard and medium hazard dams? Why are we willing to suffer a loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to save a couple of dollars on proper and responsible dam safety and repairs?
Whatever you may hear, this is a significant event which could be horrible in its scope and its magnitude. Let us pray that it does not breach, and let us hope that, at last people are sufficiently concerned to act.
Scott Cahill (original) (Source)
Mon, Feb 13, 2017 - 6:47am
Here's the latest on the storms that are due to arrive with more rain for the Oroville catchment system:
DWR needs to lower the lake level by another 50 feet to prepare for the incoming storms.
They've got just a couple of days to do this.
I am not at all clear on how much water was arriving vs. leaving between the 11th and 12th, but it took almost exactly one day to reduce the level by 1 foot:
(Source)
If I lived anywhere downstream of that dam in a low lying spot I would be clearing out all of my stuff that I cared about.
And, right now, I'd be driving very far away so I could find reasonable long-term living arrangements...I bet this isn't resolved for quite some time. A week minimum, until they safely get past the rains and feel confident about the dam structure. But possibly a lot longer (and that's assuming no "uncontrolled release" situation).
Mon, Feb 13, 2017 - 7:21am
[quote=rhare]
[quote=cmartenson]
So the spillway may fail and the first, large modern dam in US history could fail.
[/quote]
Not the first, depending on your definition of modern
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teton_Dam
[/quote]
You are right...I'll count that as a modern, major dam. What a mess that was too.
I loved these parts from the wiki article you linked, because I bet both dams will share this precise feature:
In 1973, when the dam was only half-built, but almost $5 million had already been spent on the project, large open fissures were encountered during excavation of the key trench near the right end of the dam, about 700 feet (210 m) from the canyon wall.
The two largest, near-vertical fissures trend generally east-west and extend more than 100 feet (30 m) below the bottom of the key trench. Some of the fissures are lined by calcite, and rubble fills others. Several voids, as much as 6 inches (15 cm) wide, were encountered 60 to 85 feet (18 to 26 m) below the ground surface beyond the right end of the dam and grout curtain.
The largest fissures were actually enterable caves. One of them was eleven feet (3.4 m) wide and a hundred feet (30 m) long. Another one was nine feet (2.7 m) wide in places and 190 feet (60 m) long. These were not grouted because they were beyond the keyway trench and beyond the area where the Bureau had decided grouting was required.
This necessitated using twice as much grouting as had been originally anticipated – 118,000 linear feet were used in total. Later, the report of a committee of the House of Representatives which investigated the dam's collapse felt that the discovery of the caves should have been sufficient for the Bureau of Reclamation to doubt its ability to fill them in with grout, but this did not happen: the Bureau continued to insist, even after the dam had failed, that the grouting was appropriate.
After the dam's collapse, debris clean-up began immediately and took the remainder of the summer. Rebuilding of damaged property continued for several years. Within a week after the disaster, President Gerald Ford requested a $200 million appropriation for initial payments for damages, without assigning responsibility for Teton Dam’s failure.
Yep, wouldn't want anyone from government being held responsible now would we? You know accountability? That's just for citizens, I guess.
Try having even a slight error on your tax forms during an audit, and you'll find out exactly how lenient the government can(not) be. :)
The shared feature on the Oroville and Teton dams will be a complete lack of assigned blame. Plus poor construction/maintenance.
Monday, Feb 13th - 8:09 a.m.
The water is now apparently 2.5 feet below the emergency spillway level. This is a good sign. Water is dropping much more quickly now, so the inflows must be receding.
Now it's a race against the arrival of the next storms
Monday, Feb 13th - 9:37 a.m.
Speaking of the rainfall, here's the weather service's seven day forecast...andother 4 to 7 inches in the region(!).
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://peakprosperity.com/oroville-dam-threatens-to-collapse/
Not quite the 10-20 inches that fell over the past week:
The reservoir drains about 4000 sq miles or 110 billion square feet. 5 inches of precipitation makes for a bit under 50 billion cubic feet of water. if it all runs off in one week (about 600,000 seconds), that would be 83,000 cu. ft./s. Of course some will fall as snow and won't run off til spring, but the peak flow rate will also likely be significantly higher than the average for a few days.
Another look: Lowering the reservoir will free up about 15 billion cu. ft. or about 30% of the expected precipitation in the basin over the next 10 days. I doubt they'll free up any more than 5-10 billion though. Of course, they could drain 60 billion cubic feet over days 4-10 at 100,000 cubic feet/second and some will be stored as snow, so maybe things will work out. But precipitation forecasts of that magnitude 4-10 days out are subject to significant error too. An then there's the question of whether the existing damaged spillways shored up by whatever reinforcement they can do over the next few days can sustain 100,000 cubic feet/s without failing.
