CA - ‘Uncharted territory’ as Lake Oroville rises toward damaged dam

[CARIIS]

He just told me they are going to be at 50cfs in several days

oh brother, I get they are in a jam but how on earth can all the mess with the riverbanks downstream not result (its all loose junk now guys) in:

Water going all over --UNCONTROLLED

Mini dams cropping up as all the loose stuff piles up in areas unknown more uncontrolled

All that agricultural land was not destroyed because it have a river to go down

We're playing at the beach , and make little rivers (!) loved to do it! And then let's put in little obstacles in our little rivers.

The water makes all its own new ways to flow

Snowmelt has not started

moo

 

[CARIIS]

Flows will be increasing in the stretch of the Feather River adjacent to downtown Oroville, and decreasing out of the Afterbay outlet this afternoon.
In a press release, the Department of Water Resources said an additional 2,000 cubic-feet per second would be sent down the “low flow” stretch of the river, for a total of 7,200 cfs.
Afterbay releases will be trimmed 1,500 cfs to 7,000 cfs, according to the release.
The Oroville Lake level is still rising about a half-foot a day as inflows exceed

http://www.orovillemr.com/general-n...rough-low-flow-stretch-of-feather-river-today

 

[CARIIS]

New video from yesterday

[video=youtube;yEGkvsKJ4Ek]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEGkvsKJ4Ek[/video]

 

[CARIIS]

Interview with engineer in the trenches

[video=youtube;W7UGPT0vDZQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7UGPT0vDZQ[/video]

 

[CARIIS]

1:15 interesting shot of underneath the emergency spillway

[video=youtube;ECVceCsumXU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECVceCsumXU[/video]

 

[CARIIS]

1:20 kinda neat to see how they are moving are the trees

[video=youtube;INqEkg5O3Ic]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INqEkg5O3Ic[/video]

 

[CARIIS]

AM I overreacting? i do not understand when the water makes it down to where there were river banks and there are not any now, they are gonna have to cut back the spillway again to let it settle.

But that is what started the whole mess


So do they just let it endless flood out all over the place?

Rivers without embankments are not rivers- they are low lying areas of land that when inundated with fast moving water-- water goes where it wants to go?



Is there another scenario in this I am missing??

At 863- 865 is here soon............................................

 

[Niner]

Thanks all the pictures and videos!

So.... releasing water today....

 

[watergirl62]

1:15 interesting shot of underneath the emergency spillway

[video=youtube;ECVceCsumXU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECVceCsumXU[/video]

Looks like they are spraying gunite/ shotcrete underneath the break in the main spillway. That's what it looks like they have applied on the uppermost portion of the emergency spillway also.

Amazing they have (re)moved 1.5M cu. yds! It costs a fortune to move dirt (or water).

 

[watergirl62]

Interview with engineer in the trenches

[video=youtube;W7UGPT0vDZQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7UGPT0vDZQ[/video]

He sounds like a hard rock geologist to me! He has a Brunton compass. He says amphibolite, shear, strike and dip. They are mapping the formations, fault and fractures dips and orientations. That would be an amazing project to work on.[emoji173]

 

[watergirl62]

New video from yesterday

[video=youtube;yEGkvsKJ4Ek]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEGkvsKJ4Ek[/video]

Taking cores in the spillway, checking integrity of the structure vertically. Good deal.
Thanks for all the updates CARIIS.

Sent from my LG-H740 using Tapatalk

 

[CARIIS]

Looks like they are spraying gunite/ shotcrete underneath the break in the main spillway. That's what it looks like they have applied on the uppermost portion of the emergency spillway also.

Amazing they have (re)moved 1.5M cu. yds! It costs a fortune to move dirt (or water).

gunite/ shotcrete does it have a cure time or something - they will be abusing the heck out soon?

 

[CARIIS]

IN

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/j...17+05:53&geom=small&interval=2&cookies=cdec01

 

[CARIIS]

OUT

 

[watergirl62]

gunite/ shotcrete does it have a cure time or something - they will be abusing the heck out soon?

It dries pretty quickly. It is used frequently in subsurface retaining walls to create a barrier to groundwater. It is also used in swimming pools.

Tiny tree roots can eventually penetrate it with time. I saw this when we dug up a uber-controversial pipeline trench over the Edwards Aquifer ten years after it was replaced and deepened. The pipeline trench walls were inspected closely for fractures and other potential flow conduits when excavated, sealed manually, and then sprayed over with gunite.

https://www.shotcrete.org/pages/products-services/technical-questions-archive.htm

 

[CARIIS]

I just dont understand how this is gonna work everyone ran down away from the dam

but with the rivers all crashed in there is gonna be water in a whole bunch of places there was not before

so how is that not gonna mess up evacuating (like it went so well last time!)


Instead of raging river

I visualize --kinda a problem if there are people stuck all over the highway in their cars??

 

[CARIIS]

Does it not stun you that throughout we have not heard one peep from Washington about this --mind boggling and scary as hell.

Can you imagine them handling a major disaster ugh my

 

[watergirl62]

Rivers are not permanent they are forever down-cutting and eroding and migrating and morphing. Dams exacerbate downstream scouring and erosion by their mere presence, this is not news. The bank sloughing is secondary collateral damage that likely could not have been avoided.

It will be interesting to see if they can convey the snowmelt downstream without further catastrophic damage. They are throwing everything at it and have a limited window to get things shored up. Dodged a bullet once to be sure!!

I think the increased releases over 14K cfs is a short-term stress test on all the fixes. Hopefully it will alleviate further downstream bank issues.

Watching and waiting...

 

[SophieRose]

Rivers are not permanent they are forever down-cutting and eroding and migrating and morphing. Dams exacerbate downstream scouring and erosion by their mere presence, this is not news. The bank sloughing is secondary collateral damage that likely could not have been avoided.

It will be interesting to see if they can convey the snowmelt downstream without further catastrophic damage. They are throwing everything at it and have a limited window to get things shored up. Dodged a bullet once to be sure!!

I think the increased releases over 14K cfs is a short-term stress test on all the fixes. Hopefully it will alleviate further downstream bank issues.

Watching and waiting...

I really have appreciated your input watergirl62. With a username (I love it, it comes alive when you talk about water) like that, what is your background? Under no obligation to answer.

I have been watching the documentary Cadillac Desert, based on the book, on youtube. I have always found William Mulholland fascinating, read his granddaughter's biography on him years ago. I wish they would make a big epic movie on those times. Got interested of course because of "Chinatown."

[video=youtube;hkbebOhnCjA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkbebOhnCjA[/video]

 

[SophieRose]

Here is an article from when the spillway damage was first noticed. Another article said it was an employee on his way to work who first noticed the flowing water irregularities in the spillway that Feb morning. It must have been a shock. Same other article said that spillway is to be checked twice a year, so why was it not inspected in 2016.

http://www.redding.com/story/news/2017/02/09/dam-spillway-checked-distance-last-inspection/97723936/

The last inspection on the Butte County dam, which has developed a hole 30 feet by 200 feet on the spillway, was conducted*in July 2015 by the state Division of Safety of Dams.
However, rather than undergoing a close visual inspection, the spillway was checked “from some distance,” the report says.
“The discharge channel was not walked this time; however, a visual inspection from some distance indicated no visible signs of concrete deficiencies,” the report says.

snip

This week, however, dam operators noticed water flowing irregularly down the spillway. When they reduced flows down the spillway, they saw a massive cave-in on the face of the spillway.

State Department of Water Resources officials say the spillway will continue to erode and the hole will continue to expand until it reaches bedrock.