Posted on 02/12/2017 4:26:47 PM PST by janetjanet998
Edited on 02/12/2017 9:33:58 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
What’s the group’s considered opinion on schedule? Will the project meet the deadlines, or is the site prep taking more time than estimated?
Worthy western thought is filled with knowledge and analysis of the weaknesses, failings, dangers and limitations of government. When we are forced by history, circumstances or cultural constitution to put government in charge he of something the prognosis is always modest to dismal.
Hehe. That thought crossed my mind as well.
Crews work on slab anchors placed and grouted into the leveling concrete on the lower chute of the Lake Oroville flood control spillway in Butte County, California. Photo taken July 24, 2017.
Interesting factoid about Kiewit - They just completed the construction of TVA’s Paradise Plant combined cycle generation facility. It’s 2 gas turbines, plus 1 steam turbine that uses the exhaust heat from the gas turbines to create steam. Very efficient process.
The Paradise CC has been very useful so far this summer, in meeting the summer demand. It was built to replace 2 large coal-fired generators at the same location.
DWR: Final 2017 construction plans for Oroville Dam Spillway approved
Haleigh Pike
Posted: Jul 26, 2017 02:42 PM PDT
OROVILLE, Calif. - The Department of Water Resources (DWR) said Wednesday that they have received authorization to proceed with its final 2017 construction plan from the California Division of Safety of Dams (DSOD) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
The work to be completed this year now has all required approvals from federal, state, and independent oversight groups. The independent Board of Consultants (BOC) also approved DWR’s construction plans last month pending final approval from FERC.
Officials said the first phase of construction will be completed by November 1, 2017, with the objective of ensuring that the main spillway can safely pass Feather River watershed flows this year. The first phase of construction includes:
Removal and reconstruction of 2,270 feet of the main spillway.
Repairs to the uppermost 730-foot portion of the main spillway that connects to the radial gates. This portion will be demolished and reconstructed in 2018.
Construction of an underground cutoff wall below the emergency spillway. The purpose of the cutoff wall is to prevent uphill erosion if the emergency spillway is used again.
The remaining construction will be completed in 2018, which will also need federal and state approval, includes:
Addition of structural concrete to the entire main spillway.
Resurfacing and hydro-blasting of the energy dissipaters at the base of the spillway.
Construction of a roller-compacted concrete buttress (sloped wall) and splashpad on the emergency spillway to dissipate the energy of any waterflows.
The Department of Water Resources’ final design and construction plans, which will continue to be monitored by DSOD, FERC, and the independent BOC, include modern technologies and methods to meet and exceed today’s safety and construction standards.
The Department of Water Resources said other project-related updates are as follows:
The independent BOC met in Oroville on Monday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 25. The BOC received an overview of DWR’s construction schedule and milestones moving forward. The BOC was also be briefed on the design concepts for the 1,050-foot section of the main spillway that will be constructed with roller-compacted concrete in 2017, and an update on foundation preparation and clean-up.
The current lake level at Lake Oroville is 800 feet and reservoir releases into the Feather River are now at 6,500 cfs. With guidance from FERC, DWR has established a projection schedule to draw down the reservoir’s elevation to 700 feet by November 1. This is a more conservative reservoir level than normal for that date as a public safety precaution. This schedule is tentative and subject to change because of a multitude of contributing factors.
DWR this week finished hosting its second round of community meetings to update residents about the Lake Oroville Spillways project. The first meeting was held on Monday, July 17, in Oroville, followed by Wednesday, July 19, in Marysville, and finally Monday, July 24, in Yuba City. These meetings are part of DWR’s continued effort to provide updates from DWR leadership and experts on construction efforts, collect feedback from the community and answer questions. The next round of public meetings is planned for late summer or early fall of 2017.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/07/27/oroville-dams-green-spot-raises-new-worries/
Oroville Dam’s ‘green spot’ raises new worries
By Risa Johnson, Chico Enterprise Record |
July 27, 2017 at 7:58 am
OROVILLE — A new report from a UC Berkeley group researching what caused the Lake Oroville spillway to fail in February is concerned that a green spot on the nation’s tallest dam might mean it is leaking.
This is not the first time the “green spot” on the southern end of Oroville Dam has been brought up. It has been discussed at community meetings, where state Department of Water Resources officials have said it is caused by rain or is a natural spring.
Robert Bea and his team at UC Berkeley are far from convinced. Bea is a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley and a risk management expert who has been recognized by the U.S. Senate for his review of disaster management following the BP oil spill and Hurricane Katrina.
He said a lot of thought went into deciding when to publish the findings, if at all. He understands the unease residents are likely to feel from reading about the report, but in his opinion, the DWR’s explanation for the spot warrants posing the question publicly.
“The consequences of not getting the right answer are very high,” Bea said. “I don’t think anyone should encourage a casual approach.”
DWR officials have addressed the spot of vegetation before, chalking it up to the rainy season or calling it a natural spring. Bea said those claims are both problematic.
For one, he said, the green area was there for years, including during the drought, not solely wet periods. If caused by rain, it shouldn’t be concentrated in one spot. There should be other green spots all around the dam, the authors of the report noted.
As to the claim the spot is a natural spring, the vegetation does not follow a normal path, Bea said — streams do not go uphill. It is also expanding in a “near perfect” horizontal direction, the report states.
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Leveling concrete continues to be placed between the stay-forms on the lower chute of the Lake Oroville flood control spillway in Butte County, California. Photo taken July 26, 2017.
> “The consequences of not getting the right answer are very high,” Bea said
That has got to be the understatement of all time.
In the first image the guy on the left is in violation of OSHA standards regarding proximity to openings in the “deck”.
You should watch films of how great bridges were built. Whew!
Here's an example. DWR is rushing FERC for an expedited review on particular construction details in order to "meet their critical schedule" (construction schedule). This letter was dated July 13. DWR has been interfacing with FERC on this particular item since early July. So did somebody forget something? now they have to ask for an "expedited review"?
Who is driving all of the "details checking"? Kiewit? If I were Kiewit I would have dedicated resources to make sure that DWR doesn't "drop the ball" on the myriad of details & get operations shut down just as happened in the blasting fiasco.
Oh, and the "expedited" subject matter... DWR is getting permission (design input/review) from FERC on installing anchor bars in the upper spillway chute.
The same chute DWR said didn't need to be replaced this year as it is so sound. Reminds me of the latest "twist" in "replacing" an additional portion of the upper main spillway this year, just to make it easier to insure the full spillway job gets completed next year (right - Nothing mentioned about the deep soils photographed underneath the spillway slab nor the drain cracks & concerns, et al. ) The announcement of replacing an additional portion of the upper main spillway is in the exact area where they did concrete inspection cutouts in the spillway. That is why I'm not convinced about the reason "narrative" of ensuring getting it completed next year.
Could have been coincidental... the recent Town Hall "Spillway reconstruction update" meetings were announced just after the blasting fiasco occurred and the press was able to get DWR to admit that Nov 1 was the target date, but they would use more of the year if available to continue construction.
So it's tough to answer on meeting a schedule (even opinion) due to the "high stakes - mistakes FERC/DWR related". I just hope that the workers stay safe; that Kiewit is isolated from being pushed by any politics; that DWR learns to be honest with "mistakes" (if they have been involved); and that no blame-game antics arise. Sounds like a workers prayer...
DWR asking for "expediting review" from FERC in the installation of rock bolt anchors to secure the untouched upper portion of the Main Spillway
Lots and lots of concrete to place between now and Nov 1.
I wonder if the "hottest" job (most sought out) is working in the "ice house" plant on the boat parking lot concrete plant. :-)
Oh I have. Those were the days when they had a formula that for every million $ spent on a project a worker would die. Unacceptable.
Oroville Dam: See the claims filed with the state after the spillway crisis
By Risa Johnson, Chico Enterprise Record |
PUBLISHED: July 28, 2017 at 6:32 am
Oroville – The state Department of General Services reports 10 residents have filed claims for compensation related to the Lake Oroville spillway crisis.
At least 188,000 were impacted. That’s the number of residents downstream of the dam who were ordered to evacuate Feb. 12 for fear of extreme flooding, should the emergency spillway fail.
At this point, the claims by individuals and companies total $534,070.
Residents have until Aug. 11, six months from the declaration of a state emergency, to file in order to be eligible to receive compensation for their losses from the government. The form can be completed online or mailed in and costs $25 to process. Several affected cities and counties have also filed claims of their own, including the city of Oroville, which asked for about $1 million.
This newspaper obtained copies of the claims by businesses and individuals that have been filed so far. Those claims are included with this article. Personal information was redacted by the state.
Residents have asked for $4,000 to $200,000 in compensation. Alleged damages range from an inmate forced to hold his bladder and go without drinking water for 14 hours to businesses losing out on sales and being subjected to flooding.
snip
State Orders 93 Dam Spillways Checked After Oroville Near-Disaster
by Kurtis Alexander, San Francisco Chronicle / July 28, 2017
(TNS) - The near-catastrophic failure of the Oroville Dam last winter has prompted California water officials to order inspections of spillways at 93 dams that they believe could pose a risk to downstream communities, according to public records released Thursday to The Chronicle.
The dams include nearly two dozen in the Bay Area as well as O’Shaughnessy Dam at Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite, which holds most of the water that goes to San Francisco and cities on the Peninsula.
The California Department of Water Resources told operators of the dams to perform immediate reviews to determine how well spillways will hold up to high water flows and make necessary repairs by winter.
State officials say they aren’t aware of problems at any specific dam. But as a precautionary measure after two spillways failed at Lake Oroville and prompted nearly 200,000 people to evacuate amid flooding concerns in February, officials said it was prudent to re-evaluate some of the 1,250 dams under their jurisdiction.
The review focuses on older, larger dams. Besides O’Shaughnessy Dam, which is run by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the state ordered checks for several dams operated by the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Marin Municipal Water District and Santa Clara Valley Water District.
“The objective of the comprehensive condition assessment is to obtain sufficient information to know whether there are safety problems with the spillways, assess the seriousness of these problems, and perform necessary repairs in a timely manner,” Daniel Meyersohn, a supervising engineer with the Water Resources Department’s Division of Safety of Dams, said in an email.
The average age of California’s dams is 70 years, according to the agency.
Officials with the dam division declined a request for an interview.
Among the Bay Area sites scheduled for the review are San Andreas Dam in San Mateo County, Lenihan Dam at Lexington Reservoir in Santa Clara County, Lake Chabot Dam in Alameda County, Briones Dam in Contra Costa County and the dam at Soulajule Reservoir in Marin County. Newell Dam at Loch Lomond in Santa Cruz County and Los Padres Dam in Monterey County are also slated for evaluations.
Many of the state’s biggest dams in the Sierra are also scheduled for assessments, including New Don Pedro Dam, which holds back Lake Don Pedro — like Hetch Hetchy, crucial to San Francisco’s water supply. Also on the list are the dam at Camanche Reservoir in the San Joaquin Valley, the East Bay district’s largest water source, as well as Lake Almanor Dam in Plumas County and New Exchequer Dam at Lake McClure in Mariposa County.
Bay Area water agencies reached Thursday said they’ve already begun the required evaluations and don’t expect to turn up major issues.
“We have no reason to believe there are problems, but this step will verify if there are any concerns,” said Elizabeth Bialek, manager of engineering services for the East Bay district. The agency was directed to assess spillways at San Pablo, New Upper San Leandro and Chabot dams in addition to Camanche and Briones dams.
Like most water agencies, the East Bay district conducts routine inspections that include visual checks for cracks or leaks, as well as periodic deeper probes that evaluate the integrity of a dam and the land it’s anchored on. The information is provided at least annually to both state and federal regulators.
The new state-ordered reviews require a combination of old inspection data and new tests to check concrete walls, drainage systems, underlying rock and other facets of the spillways. .
This spring, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered similar supplementary reviews of spillways at power-generating dams, including several in California.
The problems at Lake Oroville, which is run by the state, came in spite of the regular reviews as well as state officials’ assurances that the reservoir’s spillways were sound.
The scare at the lake began Feb. 7 when a large section of the reservoir’s 3,000-foot main spillway fractured amid pounding storms. When dam operators closed the chute, water poured out the lake on an emergency spillway, little more than a barren hillside, which also began to erode.
Fearing that the eroding hill would cause water to spill uncontrollably from the reservoir into downstream communities, officials ordered the temporary evacuation of 180,000 people. The Department of Water Resources has since initiated a half-billion-dollar effort to rebuild the lake’s two spillways.
Some engineers who have studied the main spillway determined that it didn’t have water stops to seal joints and prevent leaks from weakening it. Also, there was too little steel reinforcement in the structure, and the pipes that drain water beneath it were made of clay instead of superior PVC, their reports concluded.
The state has commissioned a team of independent engineers to investigate the design, maintenance and management of the dam’s two spillways.
In San Francisco, water officials say spillways at four dams they’ve been ordered to review — O’Shaughnessy and Cherry Valley in the Sierra and San Andreas and Turner in the Bay Area — are in good shape.
The city Public Utilities Commission has already begun performing the required assessments, and in addition, is in process of rebuilding the Calaveras Reservoir in Santa Clara County to address seismic concerns.
“We will always have projects to upgrade and maintenance to do at dams and spillways,” said Charles Sheehan, spokesman for the San Francisco water agency. “But that’s all part of managing and operating your system.”
I can guarantee you Lexington Dam would fail an impartial engineering inspection. It’s weaknesses are well documented for decades.
Editorial: Bond shouldn’t bail out state on Lake Oroville repairs
By East Bay Times editorial board |
July 29, 2017 at 8:30 am
Too many Californians — voters and politicians alike — think bonds provide a magic money tree to fix all of the state’s problems. Now here we go again.
A state water honcho has for years been talking about putting a multibillion-dollar water bond on the ballot. He postponed trying to advance a water bond on the November 2016 ballot, likely because he needed a selling point.
Now he has a poster child for his idea, a grand and deserving recipient for that largesse: Lake Oroville’s spillway.
Gerald Meral, a former executive in the state’s Natural Resources Agency and a proponent of Gov. Jerry Brown’s twin tunnels idea, said this week he’ll push an $8.4 billion water bond for the 2018 ballot.
As always with bonds, the money is thrown around to try to get everybody’s support. It offers nine-figure rewards to everything from Lake Tahoe to the Tijuana River, and money in between for desalination, river parks, flood protection and other worthy projects.
But the selling point that caught the Sacramento Bee’s eye was Lake Oroville, thus the headline, “Oroville Dam repairs would benefit from multibillion-dollar ballot measure.”
Meral said if voters approve, $200 million from the bond would help the state pay for repairs on the crumbled spillway.
Yep, after the state and water agencies downstream who benefit from Lake Oroville water and power cut corners on maintenance for years, a retired bureaucrat wants taxpayers to bail them out.
Forget it.
The state has so far said water contractors served by the State Water Project and hopefully the federal government will pick up the tab that’s likely going to be north of $1 billion, not $200 million.
Despite the state’s rosy view that somebody else will pay, the state likely is going to get stuck with part of the cost. The state needs to protect taxpayers by fighting for every dollar it can get from water contractors, the federal government and its own emergency reserves.
The burden to repair what’s broken certainly shouldn’t fall on taxpayers in the form of a bond. Whatever the state ultimately has to pay, it should be carved right out of the budgets of the Department of Water Resources and the Natural Resources Agency.
Yes, ultimately taxpayers fund those budgets, but no lessons will be learned if taxpayers write a check for the state’s cost of repairs. Write it into future costs of water and power from the lake if necessary.
Besides that, it’s a ridiculous ruse. Everyone knows about the Oroville disaster and this bond attempts to use it as a selling point. But many don’t know the history like we do, including the years of secrecy and, as we see now, lack of maintenance.
This may be a wise marketing ploy to sell the bond to uninformed voters, but we aren’t buying.
New pics today.
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