Another great report. I like how you explained all of the water exits from the lake through the dam system. The review of the powerplant was well done. It is refreshing to see an organized, informative report, without guessing, panic and hype. You are the go-to source for real information about the Oroville Dam. You have a lot of supporters, and I am pleased to add my name to that list. I look forward to your next update.
I Just wanted to say "THANK YOU" for all your work on reporting what is going on at Oroville Dam. You do a awesome job and I have been listening to your daily reports for about 2 weeks. Thanks.
About a year ago I watched this vid and was very impressed at your research and presentation... I watched it again today and was even more impressed. Juan, you are a consummate researcher, reporter and conveyer of information. You are a gift to the tapestry that forms the internet; even more so a gift to those of us who are observers. Thank you, sir, for your efforts and integrity.
Thank-you for all your background details . It has helped to put the pieces of the jigsaw in place. Thanks for all your hard work and time spent in keeping us abreast of the progress being made.
have watched so many shows about how dams work. First time somebody tried to explain the inside and how it all works. Wish this was a regular episode on tv about all dams. ty and gj
Hi, I'm from England. I'v been watching this from the start and by far you are the best one giving news out, you are the first name I look for to see how it going along. Thank You for being a honest person on here and not asking for money , just letting it no as it is. Again thank You please keep us updated.
Juan.... You are doing a great job reporting the facts as you gather them without any spin. I am enjoying your updates on this event at the Oroville Dam... I am sure most people have no idea of the scale of this project and the complexity of repairing the damage done to the spillways. Not to mention the $$$$$. Thanks again for keeping us "DAM GEEKS" informed!!! PS... I look forward to your next motorcycle tour around the affected area to see how things are fairing. Cool Bike by the way!
You are by far giving the best information on the dam and the removal of all the debris. Looking forward to your next video, please keep up your great work.
I'd like to thank you for taking the time to research and compile these videos, and presenting them in a no nonsense, factual way. As soon as I saw the initial event on the news, I've been very interested in this as a civil engineering project. It is a massive repair job and one that has many layers of complexity. The commenters here who think they're just making it up as they go have no idea what will be going on in the background. There will have been many specialist engineering firms working crazy hours coming up with temporary and permanent solutions, as well as mobilisation of a vast number of personnel and equipment. Anyone who thinks that can be done without a major effort is delusional. What impresses me the most is the speed at which they've made it all happen, they've already removed about half of the debris field- a huge undertaking in itself!
This series of videos is most welcomed, good to see that aside from your day job that you share this with us. Clear and very easy to understand. I love to continue to learn about new things. Thank you Blancolirio
Sir- You are doing an awesome job on updates! I found your channel by "happenstance". I live in Tennessee, but I am interested in the Oroville dam. Thank you for your very "astute" reports. God willing, this is a huge "learning" exercise...
One of the best, most informative and honest pieces I have EVER seen on the Internet. In Kentucky we have several power generating dams and many flood control reservoirs. This is interesting to me and your presentation with hard facts and data makes for a riveting view. Thank you.
You sir are my source for news about this dam. I don'y know what you have done before today but you sir are very attention oriented and must have been a journalist in a past carreer. Great work and keep doing what you do so well.
Great report series Mr. Browne...I'm fascinated by the scale as it's way off from any usual views one gets in general life. I also had no idea of the complexity involved in the components from reservoir to power plant to river system...good stuff thanks.
So I first found your channel due to your Rally Raid conversion project (I ride a '91 XL600V Transalp) Then I find you have a keen interest in classic aircraft (I fly gliders but love classical aircraft, too) And now you're doing some 1st class reporting on an interesting topic that otherwise only got shrill scaremongering Thanks Man! you're the right stuff! :-)
Due to your great informational reports and my chats with Kasey McGill , I may become "The Biggest Dam Know-It-All " in my neighborhood. Thank you again for your updates. Still in Brazil I see.
Juan, thank you for your excellent work. There is so much sensational and misleading or just false information on RUclips. I have been relying on your reporting to get an accurate understanding on the cleanup progress. Keep up the good work.
Got it, it's all important. Peeweethepinstriper has the views I was looking for, how the water level on the backside looks. Thanks for being one of three excellent sources for information on the dam.
One correction. Diversion tunnel #1 outlet is always flooded. It's floor at outlet is at 182ft elevation so it's top is around 216ft which is beneath the normal 225ft water level. The center line of tunnel #2 is exactly 225ft elevation from RVOS valves to outlet, and the water level in the Thermolito Diversion Pool is normally regulated to 225ft elevation. When the debris dam raised the level 20+ feet it flooded tunnel #2 which causes a vacuum (cavitation) to be formed if you try to move any significant water through the RVOS or turbine outlets.
Great reporting and good on you for staying the course and keeping us informed all this time. Also a great job the crew is doing too, I hope it settles down for everyone downstream. Keep up the great work.
Oh, I see now --it was the exhaust ports to the power plant that you were talking about a few videos ago, which I could not make any sense of. These visuals and your explanation now make way more sense to me....somewhat.....thanks for that....
Juan browne is a very intelligent man just to keep track of this problem from the onset. I realized it from the very beginning when I turned to you tube since I could not make head or tail from the tv reports. Juan Browne made immediate sense to me, a lay person, and followed him since. his stile is just perfect to explain complex situations. He is not boring but very pleasant without overpowering his viewers. I wish the best to him and his wonderful family.
Not sure if I told you this before, but great reporting! My dad was a mechanical engineer, and had to inspect the Grand Coulee. We find your videos of high interest. Thanks for your work.
Hi and thanks for another excellent, authoritative, non-contradictory report. Sorry, I'm too skint to do the Patrion donation right now, but I really appreciate the quality of what you're doing.
Excellent reporting! Thanks! A bit of a drama knowing they need to fire up the spillway again. Nailbiter! A few more weeks of potential additional rain / snow too!
Dear Sir, Iwish to thank you for your very complete update.I always look forward to listen and learn .May God Bless you and give you the rewards that HE SEES FIT. Juan for President!!!! Grasias mucho hermanito
Juan, great videos. Just to clarify, the maximum operating level of the Oroville reservoir is 900 feet, but the spillway rim is actually at 901 feet. Also gas turbines, such as found on aircraft may "exhaust" their combustion products, but water wheels, such as the reaction turbines and pump-turbines in the Edward Hyatt Power Plant, "discharge" through a tailrace.
That is the most informative video I have seen all through this problem Congrats I give you an A+ with extra credit. Wonderful work. It really lays out what is what. Just fantastic is all I can say.
Thank you Juan for the continuing info. I look forward to the "pay me now or pay me later" hind sight arguments comparing cost of the current "bucket brigade" clean-up vs. adequate maintenance (I see missed opportunities in 2005) and perhaps inadequate 1950's design goals. You don't have to be a Dam surgeon ( and I am not) to follow the crest of the dam and wonder why the the designers left a low spot on the thing and labeled it an emergency spillway when as a matter of actual fact it is the most probable location for failure. In an earlier installment you pointed out Table Mountain. After the dam dust settles I'd love to hear more about it. I'm a California native and have passed by the region often over the years on the way to the foothills and beyond. Thanks, Ron
700 x .434 = 300psi. That would be the pressure of the water going through those tunnels.When they opened them last time it almost killed the crew in the tunnel.
Another excellent report...the folks commenting you should do investigative reporting are correct. Very good reports that are easy to understand....I look forward to the next one!
I am curious as to how the reservoir got up to 900 feet in the first place. Was it because they were babying the spillway since it started to develop the crack and not discharging as much as they should have? Did they just figure, "Heck, we'll just let it overtop the emergency spillway - nothing bad will happen then"?
Emergency spillways are just that, for emergencies. They are only ever designed to be used when outflow control is lost, they save the dam from over topping, which destroys the dam. What we are seeing here is something the video producer will be very familiar with- Reason's swiss cheese model. A lot of factors have all lined up here to create this problem, not one single issue. They HAD TO stop using the main spillway, if erosion had continued, it would've weakened the main dam embankment anchor bedrock and caused dam failure. The reason erosion from the emergency spillway was so bad was because it would have never been designed to work without the main spillway. The fact the whole thing is still together is a testament to the original engineering of the thing.
Thanks, Juan, for the great informative videos - no hype, just facts. So, when the bad erosion problems happened at the emergency spillway, they figured they HAD to open up the main spillway big time and just hope for the best? And they got lucky that there was no head cutting because of the speed at which the water was shooting off the cliff? And that is why they are worrying about running the main spillway again at a low flow rate - head cutting?
I've seen talk of that concern, Stanley. Makes sense...... Perhaps, they could let the level get above the 865' target point by a few feet, to provide more time to work on the debris pile, and perhaps do a bit more stopgap repair at the damage point.....
Stanley, yes that is almost exactly what happened. If you look at the daily res level/inflow/outflow rates for all of Feb you can see the story play out. Res level was well regulated at 850ft up to Feb 7th when they discovered the hole. They reduced the main spillway outflow to zero on the 7th to look at the hole, then put some water through it and saw the hole rapidly eroding so they shut it off again on the 8th (there are two pictures showing near zero flow on both 7th and 8th, but with the hole having head cut upstream significantly on the 8th). Meanwhile on the 7th, inflow topped 100k CFS with almost no outflow, lake rose 12ft.. 8th inflow still over 100k CFS with no outflow.. res rose 12ft. 9th, inflow 155k CFS outflow only 30K CFS, res rose 16ft.. 9th to the 11th DWR realized they HAD to turn the main spillway back on, but they only ramped it up to 60K CFS worried about the hole continuing to headcut, but inflow was still 127K CFS on the 10th and lake had risen to 899ft.. and overtopped the emergency spillway on the 11th. They still weren't too worried because they thought the emergency spillway could handle the excess. They stayed at 60K CFS until the 12th by which time two things happened. 1. They saw that the erosion below the emergency spillway was much faster than they had expected 2. They learned that the head cutting below the now massive break in the main spillway had stopped, so they ramped the main spillway up to 100K CFS and there it stayed for about 4 days until res level had been brought down to 855ft. Had the hole in the main spillway not occurred with the attendant spillway shutoff, they could have *easily* handled the inflow produced by the storm. They probably could have run at 60K CFS the whole time, lake would have gone up 10-15ft by the 12th, and then and they'd be back to normal by about the 20th. Running at 100K CFS through the peak inflow the res wouldn't have gone up more than 10ft total. It was just a set of bad circumstances hitting all at the same time.
Excellent update. us on the east coast care about our brothers on the west coast. AMT based at MIA working for AMR . Looking forward to crossing paths with you .
Top of the emergency spillway is at elevation 901', not 900'. See cross section published online. Note in new DWR picture with tilted scaffold there are sliding survey markers added on sidewall just upstream from the current spillway end. This will tell them if that last section is tilting downstream when the flow restarts. Also note that this appears to be an expansion joint that is both in the side wall & slab. They are also drilling into the slab, probably to grout any voids & better anchor the spillway to the foundation rock. This is where DWR has drawn its final spillway battle line. ¡Buena suerte!
You got me so interested in this entire project that I found two videos of interest. The first one is the “Construction of the Lake Oroville Dam and Spillway Historic Film 53054MD and the tragic documentary “1955 Sutter County Flood Documentary film.
This whole situation is going to go down in history as one of the most dramatic " dances " between nature and mankind. I have seen examples of water draw-downs done by using a siphon technique. Large diameter pipes could be used in this technique. The siphon could be built having an inlet at the correct reservoir level. The pipes to carry the water could be built to discharge the water directly into the diversion pool without ever flowing down the landscape.
Sadly you can't (practically) siphon water over something more than about 30ft high, so even if you could concoct some outrageously enormous pipe setup, you'd have to wait until the reservoir was about to overflow before you could use it.
Old grandma here... re 850ft. being reasonable elevation when inflows are expected from rain etc. and now to me it looks like leaking pretty bad at that join between axillary spillway and the main one? I feel awed by all the hard work and people of good will doing the best they can but must express my concern for everybody's safety. There's a sizable scarp at the bottom of the spillway over where the road is washed out, and wet that's not from rain and mottling of green spot... on hillside below axillary s. w. Probably nothing you don't already know... but anyway, be safe and cheers to you and your gorgeous fam. Cheers
IT IS A good thing you have a boat and canoe on hand. I would put the boat on top of the house with some spare water, rain gear and maybe a life preserver or two. When the water got to high, just make like Noah and get out of Dodge....
Here's a tidbit of information for those of us who like to crunch numbers. Since 1776, the USA has been in existence about 88,000 days. Most don't realize that there are about 84,000 dams in the USA. That means there was almost 1 dam per day being commissioned and built since we became an independent nation. A significant number of those dams are probably simple weirs that serve no purpose other than making a small lake, but they are classed as dams anyway.
Juan: You put the lame stream media and the "dooms day sayer" you tuber channels to shame on this topic. It's unfortunate that they can't be as objective,professional, honest, factual and informative as you.You are the man! As for living in Mexifornia ....good luck!
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Another great report. I like how you explained all of the water exits from the lake through the dam system. The review of the powerplant was well done. It is refreshing to see an organized, informative report, without guessing, panic and hype. You are the go-to source for real information about the Oroville Dam. You have a lot of supporters, and I am pleased to add my name to that list. I look forward to your next update.
Thanks Jim!
What he said. You present like a competent engineer, which is rare in engineering these days.
I subscribed because I am not an engineer but I can understand his explanations.
Totally agree with Jim! Well explained, Juan, in laymen's terms, so much appreciated!
scarletfluerr me too!
I Just wanted to say "THANK YOU" for all your work on reporting what is going on at Oroville Dam. You do a awesome job and I have been listening to your daily reports for about 2 weeks. Thanks.
Monsieur Blancolirio, your comments and videos are for sure the best concerning the events of Oroville dam, merci beaucoup from France !
About a year ago I watched this vid and was very impressed at your research and presentation... I watched it again today and was even more impressed. Juan, you are a consummate researcher, reporter and conveyer of information. You are a gift to the tapestry that forms the internet; even more so a gift to those of us who are observers. Thank you, sir, for your efforts and integrity.
Thank-you for all your background details . It has helped to put the pieces of the jigsaw in place. Thanks for all your hard work and time spent in keeping us abreast of the progress being made.
have watched so many shows about how dams work. First time somebody tried to explain the inside and how it all works. Wish this was a regular episode on tv about all dams. ty and gj
Hi, I'm from England. I'v been watching this from the start and by far you are the best one giving news out, you are the first name I look for to see how it going along. Thank You for being a honest person on here and not asking for money , just letting it no as it is. Again thank You please keep us updated.
Juan.... You are doing a great job reporting the facts as you gather them without any spin. I am enjoying your updates on this event at the Oroville Dam... I am sure most people have no idea of the scale of this project and the complexity of repairing the damage done to the spillways. Not to mention the $$$$$. Thanks again for keeping us "DAM GEEKS" informed!!!
PS... I look forward to your next motorcycle tour around the affected area to see how things are fairing. Cool Bike by the way!
You are by far giving the best information on the dam and the removal of all the debris. Looking forward to your next video, please keep up your great work.
I'd like to thank you for taking the time to research and compile these videos, and presenting them in a no nonsense, factual way.
As soon as I saw the initial event on the news, I've been very interested in this as a civil engineering project.
It is a massive repair job and one that has many layers of complexity.
The commenters here who think they're just making it up as they go have no idea what will be going on in the background. There will have been many specialist engineering firms working crazy hours coming up with temporary and permanent solutions, as well as mobilisation of a vast number of personnel and equipment.
Anyone who thinks that can be done without a major effort is delusional.
What impresses me the most is the speed at which they've made it all happen, they've already removed about half of the debris field- a huge undertaking in itself!
This series of videos is most welcomed, good to see that aside from your day job that you share this with us.
Clear and very easy to understand. I love to continue to learn about new things. Thank you Blancolirio
I hope someone gives you a job in this sort of thing, because you have become a legitimate news source of news in this topic. Good on ya!
just ask my wife...lol
or maybe he just live in close proximity to the dam ...was my assumption
Zeinzu Androy Please check your likes here. Nice comment agreed by many.
Ears To You every comment...! Thanks Ears!
You put those "pretty faces" they have on the news services to shame who know nothing but read from a teleprompter.
Sir- You are doing an awesome job on updates! I found your channel by "happenstance". I live in Tennessee, but I am interested in the Oroville dam. Thank you for your very "astute" reports. God willing, this is a huge "learning" exercise...
One of the best, most informative and honest pieces I have EVER seen on the Internet. In Kentucky we have several power generating dams and many flood control reservoirs. This is interesting to me and your presentation with hard facts and data makes for a riveting view. Thank you.
An excellent presentation. Very comprehensive and simple-ish to understand while having such a complicated subject. Gotta love some Turtles!!
You sir are my source for news about this dam. I don'y know what you have done before today but you sir are very attention oriented and must have been a journalist in a past carreer.
Great work and keep doing what you do so well.
Great report series Mr. Browne...I'm fascinated by the scale as it's way off from any usual views one gets in general life. I also had no idea of the complexity involved in the components from reservoir to power plant to river system...good stuff thanks.
So I first found your channel due to your Rally Raid conversion project (I ride a '91 XL600V Transalp)
Then I find you have a keen interest in classic aircraft (I fly gliders but love classical aircraft, too)
And now you're doing some 1st class reporting on an interesting topic that otherwise only got shrill scaremongering
Thanks Man! you're the right stuff! :-)
Thanks Pete!
Peter Jakobs : yes he is. i could not make sense out of the tv report until I hit his channel
Thank goodness there's ONE honest, intelligent person in the USA reporting on this situation - YOU!. . . . Keep up the good work.
I'm in upstate New York. You got me hooked on info on a dam 2500 miles away. Sustained interest because of your explanations.
I'm uncertain why I'm watching your videos. But I must say, you have a fabulous presentation, and you explain yourself very well.
Great detailed work Jaun. What a complex system explained very well. Thanks Jaun , keep up the great work. Stay safe and cheers.
Due to your great informational reports and my chats with Kasey McGill , I may become "The Biggest Dam Know-It-All " in my neighborhood. Thank you again for your updates. Still in Brazil I see.
Nothing like the demeanor of a good pilot to analyse calmly in hairy situations. Thanks you are a hoot to follow on this.
Juan, thank you for your excellent work. There is so much sensational and misleading or just false information on RUclips. I have been relying on your reporting to get an accurate understanding on the cleanup progress. Keep up the good work.
Mr. Blancolirio, What a great public service you are doing with these detailed videos! Keep it up!
I have learned so much from your videos Juan. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and analysis.
Thank you, Juan, for your excellent presentations.
Got it, it's all important. Peeweethepinstriper has the views I was looking for, how the water level on the backside looks. Thanks for being one of three excellent sources for information on the dam.
One correction. Diversion tunnel #1 outlet is always flooded. It's floor at outlet is at 182ft elevation so it's top is around 216ft which is beneath the normal 225ft water level. The center line of tunnel #2 is exactly 225ft elevation from RVOS valves to outlet, and the water level in the Thermolito Diversion Pool is normally regulated to 225ft elevation. When the debris dam raised the level 20+ feet it flooded tunnel #2 which causes a vacuum (cavitation) to be formed if you try to move any significant water through the RVOS or turbine outlets.
daemn42 Thanks Daemn! Got it.
Dude your coverage of this is worthy of whatever youtube awards there are. Really great. Just the facts, no stupid conspiracy BS. Great job. Love it.
Great reporting and good on you for staying the course and keeping us informed all this time. Also a great job the crew is doing too, I hope it settles down for everyone downstream. Keep up the great work.
Oh, I see now --it was the exhaust ports to the power plant that you were talking about a few videos ago, which I could not make any sense of. These visuals and your explanation now make way more sense to me....somewhat.....thanks for that....
Juan browne is a very intelligent man just to keep track of this problem from the onset. I realized it from the very beginning when I turned to you tube since I could not make head or tail from the tv reports. Juan Browne made immediate sense to me, a lay person, and followed him since. his stile is just perfect to explain complex situations. He is not boring but very pleasant without overpowering his viewers. I wish the best to him and his wonderful family.
Not sure if I told you this before, but great reporting! My dad was a mechanical engineer, and had to inspect the Grand Coulee. We find your videos of high interest. Thanks for your work.
Thanks for the updates Juan.
Please keep these updates coming. Best source to see the latest up there
Hi and thanks for another excellent, authoritative, non-contradictory report.
Sorry, I'm too skint to do the Patrion donation right now, but I really appreciate the quality of what you're doing.
Excellent reporting! Thanks!
A bit of a drama knowing they need to fire up the spillway again. Nailbiter! A few more weeks of potential additional rain / snow too!
looks good! looks like no question of the damn being secure! you did a good of keeping those directly affected from being inordinately alarmed.
Excellent job of reporting. Thank you for all of your efforts.
You are the best resource for information on the dam and related issues thank you!
Hey Juan Brown I like your style! Well researched, well explained. Please keep up the Excellent reporting. Thank you!
Thanks for the engineering background. Fascinating. Keep it up please.
Dear Sir, Iwish to thank you for your very complete update.I always look forward to listen and learn .May God Bless you and give you the rewards that HE SEES FIT. Juan for President!!!! Grasias mucho hermanito
Thank you Juan for that detailed technical information. I'm curious about the continuation.
Juan, great videos. Just to clarify, the maximum operating level of the Oroville reservoir is 900 feet, but the spillway rim is actually at 901 feet. Also gas turbines, such as found on aircraft may "exhaust" their combustion products, but water wheels, such as the reaction turbines and pump-turbines in the Edward Hyatt Power Plant, "discharge" through a tailrace.
John Smith Thanks John!
You are a true hero man! Keep up that good work. love it! :-)
From Sweden, with relatives "over there"
Good factual reporting. Well done. Watching from South Africa on a daily basis since the start. Keep it up. So much BS out there. This is refreshing.
Great reporting and now its my go to stop for information, just keep us up to date thanks. AMDG
Again another informative video from you, which I follow with interest even though I from the UK. Thank you and keep up the good work.
I'm avidly following your updates from the UK. Well done.
That is the most informative video I have seen all through this problem Congrats I give you an A+ with extra credit. Wonderful work. It really lays out what is what. Just fantastic is all I can say.
Very, very good research, excellent explanation; you master the subject as if you were a DWR's specialist. Congratulations!
another great report. thanks for doing this.
You are excellent. Love your informative vids. Keep up the awesome reporting!!!
Another Thx to Juan to create a very clear and informative Video. Thumps up :-)
Excellent and informative video. Many thanks for your efforts to keep the public abreast of this!
Watching from the UK. love your updates
Excellent information from the perspective of one guy with a background in Geology and Hydro-geology.
Watching the situation way down here in New Zealand. Thank you Sir for the clear explanations.
Regards, Greg.
Thank you for your thorough and detail reporting. your updates are the best.
Thank you for all the sweet info. Your videos have gotten so good. You have been answering my ?s with only slight delays, i.e. geology, geography.
Very informative. Love watching these videos! Always facts without added speculation about things you don't know.
Funny, I was waiting for you to click your pen on the screen, then you made the comment. LOL! I appreciate your professionalism, thank you!!!
This video was especially interesting!!! Great job!! And thanks for the continuous updates!!
very well thought out and presented.. and even more props you doing this from spain... so thank you and great info
That opening 90 seconds is like the golf commentator version of earth moving.
yogaplaneresearchgroup Haa! I was thinking about that...LOL!!! Great analogy....
Excellent update! Thanks.
Thumbs up for Trampled by Turtles!
fantastic video! you do an awesome job explaining things with what you have in front of you 👍 You're a great reporter 💏
Thank you Juan for the continuing info.
I look forward to the "pay me now or pay me later" hind sight arguments comparing cost of the current "bucket brigade" clean-up vs. adequate maintenance (I see missed opportunities in 2005) and perhaps inadequate 1950's design goals.
You don't have to be a Dam surgeon ( and I am not) to follow the crest of the dam and wonder why the the designers left a low spot on the thing and labeled it an emergency spillway when as a matter of actual fact it is the most probable location for failure.
In an earlier installment you pointed out Table Mountain. After the dam dust settles I'd love to hear more about it.
I'm a California native and have passed by the region often over the years on the way to the foothills and beyond.
Thanks, Ron
Thank you, for your impeccable coverage... :)
Those 6-foot river valve pipes sound like a fun water park ride!
wait till the next episode...'the ride of your life..."
"Kills you instantly or your money back"
700 x .434 = 300psi. That would be the pressure of the water going through those tunnels.When they opened them last time it almost killed the crew in the tunnel.
Thanks again for your updates, I really appreciate this hard work you are doing, thank you.
Very good and understandable presentation. Thank you.
Amazing. Beautiful. Thank You so much for the work you do.
Thanks for showing how it works. I was wondering where the pump station was and how it works.
Another excellent report...the folks commenting you should do investigative reporting are correct. Very good reports that are easy to understand....I look forward to the next one!
its all starting to make sense now….thank you
I am curious as to how the reservoir got up to 900 feet in the first place. Was it because they were babying the spillway since it started to develop the crack and not discharging as much as they should have? Did they just figure, "Heck, we'll just let it overtop the emergency spillway - nothing bad will happen then"?
Stanley Dobrowski that's pretty much the case.
Emergency spillways are just that, for emergencies. They are only ever designed to be used when outflow control is lost, they save the dam from over topping, which destroys the dam.
What we are seeing here is something the video producer will be very familiar with- Reason's swiss cheese model.
A lot of factors have all lined up here to create this problem, not one single issue.
They HAD TO stop using the main spillway, if erosion had continued, it would've weakened the main dam embankment anchor bedrock and caused dam failure.
The reason erosion from the emergency spillway was so bad was because it would have never been designed to work without the main spillway. The fact the whole thing is still together is a testament to the original engineering of the thing.
Thanks, Juan, for the great informative videos - no hype, just facts. So, when the bad erosion problems happened at the emergency spillway, they figured they HAD to open up the main spillway big time and just hope for the best? And they got lucky that there was no head cutting because of the speed at which the water was shooting off the cliff? And that is why they are worrying about running the main spillway again at a low flow rate - head cutting?
I've seen talk of that concern, Stanley. Makes sense...... Perhaps, they could let the level get above the 865' target point by a few feet, to provide more time to work on the debris pile, and perhaps do a bit more stopgap repair at the damage point.....
Stanley, yes that is almost exactly what happened. If you look at the daily res level/inflow/outflow rates for all of Feb you can see the story play out. Res level was well regulated at 850ft up to Feb 7th when they discovered the hole. They reduced the main spillway outflow to zero on the 7th to look at the hole, then put some water through it and saw the hole rapidly eroding so they shut it off again on the 8th (there are two pictures showing near zero flow on both 7th and 8th, but with the hole having head cut upstream significantly on the 8th). Meanwhile on the 7th, inflow topped 100k CFS with almost no outflow, lake rose 12ft.. 8th inflow still over 100k CFS with no outflow.. res rose 12ft. 9th, inflow 155k CFS outflow only 30K CFS, res rose 16ft.. 9th to the 11th DWR realized they HAD to turn the main spillway back on, but they only ramped it up to 60K CFS worried about the hole continuing to headcut, but inflow was still 127K CFS on the 10th and lake had risen to 899ft.. and overtopped the emergency spillway on the 11th. They still weren't too worried because they thought the emergency spillway could handle the excess. They stayed at 60K CFS until the 12th by which time two things happened. 1. They saw that the erosion below the emergency spillway was much faster than they had expected 2. They learned that the head cutting below the now massive break in the main spillway had stopped, so they ramped the main spillway up to 100K CFS and there it stayed for about 4 days until res level had been brought down to 855ft.
Had the hole in the main spillway not occurred with the attendant spillway shutoff, they could have *easily* handled the inflow produced by the storm. They probably could have run at 60K CFS the whole time, lake would have gone up 10-15ft by the 12th, and then and they'd be back to normal by about the 20th. Running at 100K CFS through the peak inflow the res wouldn't have gone up more than 10ft total. It was just a set of bad circumstances hitting all at the same time.
Great scott.. finally a real reporter ..Thanks heaps
Solid, well-researched information. Your video reports are a welcome oasis in the desert of "reality" media.
Good job Juan, as usual. Much appreciated.
Excellent update. us on the east coast care about our brothers on the west coast. AMT based at MIA working for AMR . Looking forward to crossing paths with you .
Top of the emergency spillway is at elevation 901', not 900'. See cross section published online.
Note in new DWR picture with tilted scaffold there are sliding survey markers added on sidewall just upstream from the current spillway end. This will tell them if that last section is tilting downstream when the flow restarts. Also note that this appears to be an expansion joint that is both in the side wall & slab. They are also drilling into the slab, probably to grout any voids & better anchor the spillway to the foundation rock. This is where DWR has drawn its final spillway battle line. ¡Buena suerte!
excellent research, and video as always.
Excellent work Juan! Thank You!
Nice informational video on this worrisome issue...Thank you!
Another fine video. But I did miss family coming and going in the background, and the Dr Seuss book nearby for reference. LOL!
You got me so interested in this entire project that I found two videos of
interest. The first one is the “Construction
of the Lake Oroville Dam and Spillway Historic Film 53054MD and the tragic
documentary “1955 Sutter County Flood
Documentary film.
yep we reviewed those in an earlier update...thanks!
Thank you for the clear, understandable explanation. It is fascinating.
This whole situation is going to go down in history as one of the most dramatic " dances " between nature and mankind. I have seen examples of water draw-downs done by using a siphon technique. Large diameter pipes could be used in this technique. The siphon could be built having an inlet at the correct reservoir level. The pipes to carry the water could be built to discharge the water directly into the diversion pool without ever flowing down the landscape.
Sadly you can't (practically) siphon water over something more than about 30ft high, so even if you could concoct some outrageously enormous pipe setup, you'd have to wait until the reservoir was about to overflow before you could use it.
Yeah. At 32 ft water would simply draw down a vacuum at the top of the siphon and stop the flow, if it didn't simply collapse the tubing.
Very well explained, thank you!
Really like your videos. Thanks for posting.
Very informative Juan. Thank you
Old grandma here... re 850ft. being reasonable elevation when inflows are expected from rain etc. and now to me it looks like leaking pretty bad at that join between axillary spillway and the main one? I feel awed by all the hard work and people of good will doing the best they can but must express my concern for everybody's safety. There's a sizable scarp at the bottom of the spillway over where the road is washed out, and wet that's not from rain and mottling of green spot... on hillside below axillary s. w. Probably nothing you don't already know... but anyway, be safe and cheers to you and your gorgeous fam. Cheers
IT IS A good thing you have a boat and canoe on hand. I would put the boat on top of the house with some spare water, rain gear and maybe a life preserver or two. When the water got to high, just make like Noah and get out of Dodge....
Here's a tidbit of information for those of us who like to crunch numbers. Since 1776, the USA has been in existence about 88,000 days. Most don't realize that there are about 84,000 dams in the USA. That means there was almost 1 dam per day being commissioned and built since we became an independent nation. A significant number of those dams are probably simple weirs that serve no purpose other than making a small lake, but they are classed as dams anyway.
Juan: You put the lame stream media and the "dooms day sayer" you tuber channels to shame on this topic. It's unfortunate that they can't be as objective,professional, honest, factual and informative as you.You are the man! As for living in Mexifornia ....good luck!