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

They must be done with the sneaky stuff for now.

Yeah, but on this particular thread, "sand worms" has been commonly used Einstein.

We can agree to disagree on this one and debate it as we have been and this is a good thing as people who are reading and not replying are probably learning a few things, so it's all good!

I'm going with electrical lines. You are of course correct that at the time of build, all electrical lines would be enclosed. However, time has passed and some things are fucked up, we know that to be true. I totally believe the DWR would run cords to power something that really should be rewired, it's their typical band-aid and patch approach. Some level of danger and half-assedness? Absolutely.

I can also screen cap and blow up a section of the video that shows the mystery objects and they appear to be connected to the back end of a TEFC type electric motor. They also sure appear to drop off in diameter fairly significantly. One almost looks like a twist lock plug and it seems to be knotted tied around in typical electrical fashion and the one closer to the cam view, it looks as if there is a loop up next to the pipe or conduit that runs along the side closest to the lake. It also looks like the whole area is covered in the common rubber work area floor mats.

It is for these reasons that we had to chop you.....er...sorry, cooking show reference there...it is for these reasons that I believe those are electrical cords...;)

No, they are called SAND WORMS, get with the fuckin program waddletard.

HAH!

Most years, by far, it never gets this high. I believe it was over 890 ft MAYBE a dozen times in it's full lifespan from opening until....the year before they broke the spillway, which incidentally was the last time the lake was this high in 2016.

Haha. No offense taken.

Can you even see the motor end from that camera angle? I was trying to but could not.

And if cords, why not move them aside or coil them when not in use instead of leaving them stretched out for people to trip over?

good vid, thanks.

I hadn't realized uuutube took down dutch$ince, it was in the comments. I googled him and found his alternate. The powers that be are so afraid, crazy.

Well, I'm seeing what looks like the back of a TEFC type motor when it's blown up, typical pie plate fan cover look of an electrical motor's ass end. The configuration is odd if that's what indeed it is, I'll concede that, but odd isn't new around this whole place.

Why they would leave them sitting there? Ya got me on that one, but then again? It wouldn't be the only thing around that site that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Could be some reason, or no reason at all and it's just pure laziness. Unplug and drop the cord, stare at it, go do next task. Hey look how smartz I am, the next time I have to plug this in? the cord is right here next to the plug, yup right next to it, I'm a geenieass!

PLus, the area is ALREADY CONED! yup, make that super geenieass! I deserve a raise!

Yep, anyone else would have OSHA all over them for safety and electrical hazards, but CA DWR gets a pass.

In places I worked, the fire inspector would come around once a year and tag us for using an extension cord in a permanent manner. Not legal. Have to bring the power to the equipment either as a receptical or directly connected via conduit.

Kiewit is tough on safety, DWR is obviously not. I wonder how they get along, LOL.

Has anyone else heard of the temporary support beams and a jackpost installed to square the gatehouse for the April DWR 'Grand Opening'?

There is speculation that the removal of these items on June 22nd allowed the gatehouse to settle and caused the 'blowout' on gate 8.

Maybe these temporary supports are why the gates were not leaking right before DWR played for the cameras?

Photos

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They are not Straw Waddles. Those are made of straw and staked to a dirt slope to prevent soil erosion. These have sand in them and are heavy to be able to divert water flow.

We used similar things in a factory I worked at to contain cooling fluid leaks. We always called the smaller ones sand worms and the huge ones like they are using sand snakes/

It's wattle, not waddle.

But I like Sand Worm. It reminds of the movie 'Tremors'.

Getting this message on the Lake Cam:

Notice: January 18, 2019: The Visitor Center webcame is currently offline due to damages caused from the recent storms. The webcame will resume some time in February when repairs are made

video of the gush~

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Look here son . . . 'round these parts ya can call them sand worms, or ya can reveal yourself as the uncultured swine ya might well be.

You should check out Dune, if you haven't. Although I can't say if the movie is any good if one hasn't read the book. And I don't have time to read anymore so I can't expect you to either.

t. Durhamite

one of the best DOS era games as well.

I remember watching it at the drive-in about 35 years ago.

Isn't it like 4 hours long? I fell asleep in the middle of it.

the settling would not be perfectly level ( common sense). ORV Headgates Teeter Totter. :)

I've posted the May 24 'yellow bag road gap' pic several times showing that the headgates area was a couple inches higher than the gravel road on May 25.
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The idea that recent removal of those temporary support beams as discussed extensively on Wolding's channel allowed the headgates area to settle back again at gate 8 is not far fetched to me.

I'm a self admitted uneducated speculator with no real construction expertise. I posted pics. of the dam apparently settling/drooping in the middle which was probably a bad idea since it was more probably an optical effect.

We have all pretty much agreed that the drooping dam pics did not provide conclusive evidence of anything but the May 24 'yellow bag road gap' pic is undeniable.

The idea that the gravel road shrunk and settled in a uniform manner is less likely imo than the idea that parts of the headbridge area could rise and fall due to settling imo. Always my suspicion.
May 25 ( next day pic) [link to twitter.com (secure)]

Headgates Teeter Totter might even account for Turbines failing and a lot of leaking issues..

I got a lot of heat on this at Wolding's channel and here.

Maybe Headgates teeter totter is due to Pier 8 removed?

Paveway IV

Replying to @ClausDrastrup1 @EcWood10
Here's why I'm so confused about the #OrovilleDam gatehouse bridge deck and the cracks. Bridge deck rests on the eight bridge piers and the abutments, right?

Now check out Pier #8. See where it connects with the... HEY! Where the %&#! is PIER #8?
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try these pics. [link to twitter.com (secure)]

Those people can't even get simple web cams to work little chance of them fixing a complicated dam. They have already proven they don't know how to properly maintain a dam by the many years of abuse they have shown it. Then the fact that they use dam money for other agenda driven projects seals it. They have been found lacking, the dams in Cali should be taken over by a responsible agency not controlled by California.

Those pics show the steel "I" beams being added under the road way.

The taller chain link fence removed along the bridge.

The other day Claus had pics of screw jack posts being flown by crane. 3 pics, not sure if they were coming in or going out. Have they been removed? Or did they add more? No way to tell the sequence on those pics, whether the load of jacks was coming in or going out.

Are they building scaffold under the east end of bridge, perhaps to work on repair of the 'spalling' horizontal area that the east end of bridge rests on?

Could they have jacked up the east half of the bridge enough to get the road off the busted up area?

That would explain the road gap and the height difference!

Waiting for daylight to see if the racks of scaffold are disappearing, being used under the road to build a platform to work on the spalling.......

Last Edited by Hnry Bwmn on 06/25/2019 09:44 AM

"Could they have jacked up the east half of the bridge enough to get the road off the busted up area?

That would explain the road gap and the height difference!"

Thanks

OK...maybe they will let it surpass 896' after all.

Although, to be fair, I made that prediction based on the availability of NATURAL CAUSES and available snow pack...not based on a group of raving lunatics deciding to cut outflows so as to put the entire central valley at greater risk.

895.95' at 5AM local time...