California's Lake Oroville Main Spillway Severely Damaged/Eroded. Oroville Dam's Recently Reconstructed Main Spillway Fundamentally Flawed

Please look at this KCRA video from Friday --

Pay attention at the extreme beginning (I had to restart it several times)and again at 3:11 to look at the chute structure itself. It looks like new concrete on the structure up above the chutes. Has the whole MS from top to bottom needed to be patched and repaired? Due to the battering/vibrations from the water?

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

snow melt is upon us and they cant open the Main Spillway more than 50k CFS! how can they deal with 100k inflows?

Sorry, folks. I was able to watch this on Youtube but maybe it's KCRA owed video.

I know there is a lot of snow, I had posted before that my cousin in Truckee had 15 feet! It has been melting though hasn't it?

well, with the MS running at 50,000 CFS and Lake rising and rising
to over 901 ft. the ES goes to work along with the MS
and hope the inflow doesn't overtop the main Dam (they say that's bad.)

no problem.

After watching Video of spillway flowing again, my question is where is the water that flows towards the ES going? Huge erosion hole and obvious water on that side. No water flowing down the side of the MS towards the river below though.

Why the dam will fail.

Go to the other spillway thread and look on page 76 or 77...The last two pages today.

You will see a video that is being quoted several times with the title of shocking information. Trumpet news site, but Brietbart is on it.

In 2014 a detailed report was done on Oroville. Seepage through the core..The concrete and clay core that should be impervious!! Probably from what they call rotational cracks.

Also, danger of the spillway gates failing due to structural cracks iirc in the cement. The dam was permitted to operate only on an interim basis. They were in a terrible drought with low levels of water at the time.

Brietbart wants info on follow-up but are getting the run around, like demands to file FOI requests. We all know there was no follow-up. This dam should not be operating. Leaks in the core....God have mercy. This dam was only to be operating temporarily during low water.

I'm from the Midwest, but my guess would be that the high mountain snow pack doesn't really start melting until later April- May.

This one works -- again, please look at the chute housing itself and see if you see repairs to that structure itself.

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Due to criminal negligence, the dam will collapse.

Page 78 on spillway thread. I am on my phone, somebody please post it, thanks.

An instant ice age.

Which means nothing. And it is not the actual dam that will cut away. It is the weak wall where a spillway disconnected or eroded.

Forgive me Crunch. I get testy because I can see the entire scenario in my head on reply. It is f u c d up.

Not at the top of the spillway. It is right next to the top of the dam abutment.

In one of the last 2 or 3 videos I was sure I saw a crack going from left to right uphill above a panel joint.

This was left side just above a joint near the top of the MS.

There was a close up of the left side, drone was going down hill.

If the MS fails up to the gates I believe it will take out the dam itself. The damn is attached right there to the MS gates.

I think use of the ES is inevitable.
What happens then is anybodies guess.

The coloring in the concrete of the building is glaringly different. Some looks very fresh.

Here is the issue folks seem to be missing. Several actually.

So they evacuate the nearby folks. Oh Kay. The water is going to continue to flow for about two months is my rough draft. We are talking huge snow melt with no place to store it. This will effect everyone all the way to the bay.

Then -- lets talk seismic activity when most of the weight shifts off that spot. And the faults are already nice and lubed and remember even the experts have said the San andreas is locked and load. That will be the next blow.

So seriously. Time to think about taking a sabbatical or finding a new life in another state. And you can say I am being an alarmist -- call the press office for any of these places working this project. They get jumping real quick.

yup. it's starting to look like the MS and ES will both
be eroding away the Dam at the same time.

that doesn't seem very good to me.

So you have been here from the beginning and learned not a thing in the process. You. Are. Breaking. My. Damn. Heart.

Water bad. Bounce bad. Snowpack bad. No mandatory evacuation bad.

Sorry. Like I told crunch. I am a bit frustrated. We could really use a miracle.

I think there are so many reasons that we aren't allowed to see live repairs that have been going on from the from of the MS. 'They' really don't want us to know how much they have had to try to repair.

Oh shut up. I just asked a question. I've also been calving for 51 days and am only here in the evening for the most part. I have my hands full doing what I do. I am concerned and want to be informed.

Last Edited by bigD111 on 03/19/2017 08:43 PM

meant to say front of the MS.

read an article that they have been spending 4.7 million Dollars
per day on the patchwork. (no word on how many days that is.)

I beg to differ. If the MS or ES wall is breached it will make short work of cutting through the dam.

That is why the situation is much more serious than folks understand. Once the water starts cutting the dam will go with it. The dam is made of soft material that will wash out with water pressure...and boy will there be water pressure!

Nope. The water is going to eat away at the spot that gave way and the water will flow. Unless the water goes over the actual dam, it will remain when all is said and done but there will be a huge gaping wound to the left of it (facing the dam).

So, Mr. expert...what holds the walls of the little channel next to the dam in place? What keeps them from collapsing? I build lakes and dams. I understand water flow. You are talking out of your ass, respectfully.

Not that it adds anything to the discussion, but -- I agree with you.

Do you have any idea how much power and force is behind that wall of water in Lake Oroville? Continue...I will back off.

For the record, the water eats at the edge of the dam and works it's way across. Gravity dictates that it could never "top" the dam. Carry on...