Thankyou Juan from Melbourne Australia, unambiguous, clear and concise young reporter and mathematician, Dad you are very easy to understand also. Thankyou again.
KCRA TV used to be a very good area media source, unfortunately, they seem to be following the general media trend of lower quality reporting and more sensationalizing. Times have sure changed. 😞. Excellent report, as usual, Juan.
Well said. The who, what where, when, why is missing. TV is seven seconds of video, 90 seconds of commercial. I have been told one can no longer get a degree in journalism. Don't know if investigative reporting is still alive.
Some reasons: 1- Media has always been bad, we were just never able to find out and spread the word how bad they were until the internet. Those great journalists of yesteryear did a fair bit of sensationalistic reporting themselves. I recall a news outlet in the early 90s rigging a car to be more likely to ignite when they crash tested it to determine if the gas tank location was unsafe. 2- The internet has made news nearly free, taking away most of the profit for news gatherers. The big media outlets are small shells of their former selves, and real reporters, out collecting and collating information are expensive. Most news nowadays comes from Twitter or an underpaid, underqualified reporter hastily dispatched to a news conference. 3- clickbait culture and ideologically segmented media markets guarantee that the most sensationalistic headline that can be put on an article will be. Even at the expense of the long term reputation of the media outlet. Clicks equal page views, equal ad views, equal income. The quality of the product, the news, is largely secondary for cash flow challenged news outlets. 4- our education system has been changed from one that was designed to produce well informed, well rounded citizens to one that produces the right ideology. A J school journalist no doubt knows all about social justice, racism in America, etc. But they don't seem to teach actual basic journalism, how to properly research and source a topic, and how to keep their own opinions out of their reporting. It is sad, but it is what it is. Guys like Juan, places like Twitter and Facebook have become the defacto place to get the straight scoop. But you have to look for it, and sift through the garbage and propaganda to find it.
Remind me again now, this was the emergency spillway, the one that looks like a gold pan, and it would never need to be used again, ever, that one? What a good dad you are Juan, this is what building confidence in children looks like, a parent who really sees them and encourages them to be the people they are meant to be.
:) smart kids ! when my daughter was 3, I came home and she announced she had learned to count to 100 - which, she's one of "those" kids who would blow your mind from time to time.... so I bit and asked to hear her get as far as she could... "One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one-hundred"... (she's an important lawyer now 30 years later)
Umm... not in my experience. You really come to appreciate lawyers when you need one, and they are well worth their cost then.... (she doesn't have clients btw)
Makes perfect sense Juan. State and water districts take subscribers and tax payers monies, uses them for expenditures other that maintenance and upkeep of the water district, then demands money to pay for fixes that were supposed to be covered from original fees paid. Your crack team of financial advisors has a better grasp of financial items than government in most locations. Plus one for TEAM BROWNE!
Thank you once again for a great report! And thank you for calling out the mainstream fools. Yet another example of why I don't listen to ANY of them anymore. Real reporting in truth only comes from people like you, my friend!
thank you so much for all your hard work and honest reporting. When I first saw the news about the dam and all the problems happening there I didn't realize just how huge this thing is until I started to watch all the videos about the work being done to repair it I love to follow all the progress and thank you so much for all your reporting. I used to work in construction, I was a welder on a pile driving project in Vermont and when I look at all going on there I am amazed at the scope of the work being done and just how fast it is being completed.
Juan, as always, thank you for your reporting on this project. It is so far above the MSM it's not even a competition. Thank you for attempting to discern the facts and relate them to the rest of us in a meaningful manner. I wish the MSM would take a cue from you on this. God bless ya.
Great job, Juan! If they can’t get that right how in the world can they get national politics right? We appreciate your integrity in reporting all of these issues.
Great reporting as always Juan! I've worked in procurement for 40 years both in the commercial and government sectors and I actually think the $1.1 billion is not bad considering the massive size of the job! You have a great Accountant there!!!
I agree. Before they are done, and that would include repairing the spillway gates, I would not be surprised if they were in the $1.75 to $2.0 billion range. That's a one-time cost of about $70 per citizen of the Great Cali Republic. Frankly, it is money well spent. Heck, we spend over $13 billion PER YEAR to incarcerate 137,000 felons (about $95 thousand each and every year, per inmate, or a yearly cost to each Cali citizen of over $400).
Hey Juan, top notch report on an always fascinating Oroville Dam. Great and humorous work by your crack financial team, you show wonderful patience with your kids that`s nice to see. I understand your frustration with muck raking media, it gets a little tedious. I see a very conscientious effort by all involved to make this dam as solid as possible to protect lives and economic interests. Well done!
First thanks a Lot Juan! I'm living in Germany (quite a distance, huh - please excuse my bad english...) following your great reports since the beginning, please keep going on with this. :-) There is one thing, i do not understand (maybe i have missed some details): Those energy dissipators (is that spelled correctly?) at the end of the Spillway - do they count as a "national monument" or something like that? Kiewitt is playing around with those blocks for MONTHS now, without any significant progress. Yes i know they are huge, but would it not have been much easier to blast the old dentates and pour them completely new? Just thinking...First those structures were chissled, jet-cutted and sandblasted and there was new rebar glued in place and connected to the old rebar and work ist still FAR from beeing finished at the dentates - it seems to me, that this part of the spillway must not be built new, no matter, how much it takes or costs to "repair" the old ones... Is there any reason, i do not know about? Does the whole Oroville-Comlpex loose the permit for staying in use, if those dentates would been built new? Or something like that..? PLEASE let me know, why this minimal part of the whole Spillway is restored like a piece of fine art probably at costs that come up to a piece of art too... ;-)
Your English is nearly perfect, no need to apologize. The damage to the dentates was "just" surface damage caused when debris hit them and chipped them. They definitely didn't have to blast them out and start over. But chipped dentates are a problem because the chipped surfaces can erode further if not repaired correctly. The surface must be properly prepared so that the new surface concrete adheres to the base concrete and withstands the high velocity water that it will be subjected to. It's probably slow going because it's not a high priority part of the project so they've only got just a few people working on it. They've still got a couple of months to get the whole job done.
dlwatib: Yeah, of all the things that did go down during the emergency, the dentates held up really really well. They were tested by fire, or rather tested by water and debris, and proved to be fully sufficed.
Juan, Thank you for this report and all your efforts! Much respect to you as a veteran, pilot, reporter, and father. God bless you and your family. Paul
Let's be specific, though. It's not "fake" news, it's "inadequate" news. Many (not all) news reporters these days simply are not motivated to do their jobs well. They're commit driven by their corporate managers to complete tasks with minimal effort and maximum efficiency, and that's why we get bad reporting. It has nothing to do with politics or some bizzare conspiracy that the news wants to get everything wrong. It's simply the result that you get when you dictate efficiency over quality.
you are spot on. I almost feel enclined to apologise for the absurd, troll reactions that as they always occur seem inevitable nowadays. some fine countrymen.. you do some good little piece of analysis and the very first one to respond is someone who can only think 'butthole' and 'stink'. As being aggressive is also already on the part of this type of being, I am afraid there is no other route than the further promotion of the idea of peaceful coexistence, even though I do not really favour to coexist with any of the type that utters this way and that seem to have no other, better higher, or be it even somewhat more spiritual thought
It is fortunate that this project is able to use the sand and aggregate that are on location. I live in CT. and we have a disaster unfolding in the eastern part of the state due to defective concrete and it is a problem for many thousands of homeowners. Aggregate from a quarry was apparently never properly tested. The aggregate contains a mineral called Pyrrhotite which causes the concrete to crack and fall apart. There is no repair process - the foundation must be replaced. If the aggregate at Oroville had been found to be unsatisfactory the final repair bill would probably be a much uglier number.
Re MSM and "fake news." MSM being bad does not make the alternatives better. Don't tell me the crapola that Alex Jones spews tops MSM. For the most part I'll take MSM but it's relatively easy to spot the good guys, Juan being the best example I've seen. Keep up the great work Juan!
Great update, Juan, especially calling out a local TV station on their fear-mongering--cheap shot of them! As usual, you give facts, not fear, and perspective, not misdirection and manipulation .. unlike that TV station! Your crack Blancolirio team are gaining such sophistication of subjects and interaction with the audience that they are totally disarming and charming at the same time--great tutelage on the part of their overseeing masters! Have definitely shared!
GET FIRED UP, Juan!! The mainstream media IS garbage! And as always, another great dam update. I've been waiting soooo long I was forced to watch one of your dirt bike reviews. And as always, another great take. I don't even ride 2 wheels. But if I did, it would be THAT bike! I'd also fly THAT plane, were it that I had the slightest inclination to fly a plane myself. I'd also gladly fly on whatever airline you fly for. Your first grader knew to put the cap back on the dry erase marker when he thought he was finished writing. A first grader! I discovered today a follow employee aged 19 who did not know powdered coffee creamer even existed until I showed her my secret stash in a pint mason jar. 'Mind-blown' I think is the hip description. God bless and protect you and your family. Many crowns for you sir.
blancolirio ...I bet it’s equally as difficult to resist the urge to post on their page about how BS their story is. Excellent updates as usual. I always look forward to your reports.
you can see the word 'bullshit' forming in juans mouth - but the stranges it down and keeps his composure. You may switch to ground on 125 point niner, have a good day.
Juan, this has been a impressive and exciting journey with you as you have shown all your dam updates and commentary. I can think of no other news reports that have been as thorough and complete as yours has been.
Cost managers for big government contracts always figure 4 to 5 times projected contract costs. I've been told this and I've seen it play out in several projects. Bay Area Rapid Transit Polaris Missile System B-1 Bomber LLNL Laser As for the reporting that comes out of Main Stream Media, that's why we watch good reporting like yours Juan. I've gotten to the point that I only read headlines in my "Main Stream Media" papers and zero in on selected alternative media reporters in areas I'm interested.
Top notch report as always Juan. Your look of complete exasperation when mentioning the KCRA report spoke volumes, you really didn't need words for that bit! The emergency spillway with the terracing effect looks amazing from the air, will be interesting to see what it's like when all the construction work is finished.
Looks like they have ammended the story at KCRA... too late the damage was done - "The Oroville Dam is inspected twice a year by state and federal engineers. Once construction is completed, the department anticipates the next report will show Oroville Dam back in the satisfactory category."
Thanks again Juan for your time an knowledge also fir getting the story right about the rating. Great truthful honesty, an integrity in your reporting something the major news outlets need to follow
Once again, excellent report Juan. Thanks for the dam update!! I sure can't wait for that update on the wall fire area so we can compare before and after for some of the area affected by the fire Thanks again Juan!
Another great report, Juan. Thanks. Re: the dentates(sp?) It seems to me that they maybe didn't anticipate how much there was to do. They started out with "pressure washers" (my term) and ended up using the big pavement breaker.
Thank you Juan! So tired of the MSM hype and fake reporting of no news! Sad! But if we want factual reporting of Oroville Dam...go to Juan Browne! Great video! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
On the KCRA report: First, I hope that there was a KCRA reporter on the call to get Juan's clarification and criticism in person. Second, the Division of Safety of Dams partially brought this on by having such an uninformative rating. They should have a rating that better conveys "Known deficiency has remediation in progress, proceeding in a satisfactory manner, and expected to produce a satisfactory result at low risk". As usual, Juan, thanks for your interest in this story, and clear, insightful reporting.
It looks like there is something going on in the area in front of the spillway (closest to the lake). I am looking at the side where the earth is raised and wondering if they are doing anything there? I can't tell if that is just rock. Is that area going to be reinforced with a wall? Thanks for the work you have done on this Juan.
Not surprised the MSM got it wrong! Once this is all over, you'll have to fly us up there once in a while to see the dam, please, I find I will miss these little trips! :) Thanks, Juan!
Are all 6 turbines now available at the power plant? I thought one might still be undergoing refurbishment or repair. Additionally, were the cost for repairing the power plant included in the DWR $310m expense? You mentioned power line relocation, so I also assume any other costs for the power plant were included in.
1.1 B is a bargain. I worked in the construction of Fujitsu's FAB-2 [Intel Chip Plant & Silicon Wafer Plant] in Gresham back in the 90s and the cost was 1.2B
Doesn't a plant making a product have a better ROI? As in the investment is returned by profit of the product produced at the plant. Is this plant going to give away 1.1B in power to tax payers? Water? or is it more complicated to measure the ROI on something like flood protection, water storage etc? That Intel plant had investors that knew they would make many more dollars back off the investment. This isn't the case on repairing a dam.
If you had good enough data from before the dam was built you could calculate the improvement in agricultural productivity from the irrigation and flood control that the dam provides and call that the ROI. Other potential benefits are much harder to quantify.
FLoat, actually, FAB-2 never went into full production because by the time it was finished [2 years], it was archaic... Moore's Law and all. So, 1.1B kind of wasted. As opposed to benefits of a dam in CA. Dams are infrastructure, most infrastructure is a very necessary "waste of money".
Oroville dam makes momey in three ways. Firstly, it saves the government a lot of money every few years when it prevents major, widespread flooding. Secondly, it creates a saleable commodity- water. And thirdly, it generates enough electricity to make supply of that water cheap for the owner of the dam. ROI is not relevant on infrastructure projects- they are not an avoidable expense. Their costs are amortised by way of improvements in efficiency of the economy in general, which fosters industry. At a guess, I would say just in the valley below Oroville dam, the increases in agricultural efficiency the farmers enjoy would pay for the costs in 10-15 years, and their earnings directly filter back to government through direct and indirect taxes, supply fees for water etc. Never mind the fact that the very next flood this dam prevents will have paid for these repairs ten times over. ROI is a simplistic, shareholder greed driven point of view, which is why so many companies don't re-invest in themselves anymore, preferring to pander to the wants of their short sighted shareholders who want instant gratification.
I've lived in Sacramento since 1985....KCRA 3 and the Sacramento Bee newspaper really like to 'dig up dirt' and try the gloom and doom news scenario.... I've seen Kiewit doing other work around here in the past...never heard of any sort of problems. Their 'injury' rating for the Oroville Dam is very good, considering how big that repair job is..!
it looks like there's a new road that runs behind the intake to the main spillway now, (I think its new?) is it expected to be submerged this rainy season? or will they be able to continue using it throughout the rainy season? and if it does get submerged will it become damaged?
Oh Juan, the look on your face is priceless. Thanks to you and your "consultant Assistant Pete" for another awesome update. BTW the phrase should be " set in concrete" instead of stone.😎
THANKS BIG. Am very keenly interested in some close-up photos of where the emergency spillway ties into the hillside on the left end. It has looked in glimpses that they did a re-engineering of that but I'd sure like to see some detailed pics of that.
Great job Juan on presenting real facts and asking real questions. Congrats Julianne and way to go Pete. Im on the east coast so to get the real news on this, I only read and watch DWR and your vids to get the real story about what is happening.
Juan, can you explain why the emergency spillway has to be so wide, requiring such huge amounts of concrete? Why could it not be only as wide as the weir, with the section beyond the weir eliminated by installing a levee or some such behind the parking lot/boat ramp?
I am not Juan but can try to answer your question. A given amount of water can pass through a given area by gravity. Take 100 sq ft-that is 10 ft by 10 ft or 5 ft by 20 ft or 1 ft by 100 ft.. In the third instance the lake level only rises one foot compared to a ten foot rise in the first instance. With the added depth of water of ten feet there is added energy to the water flow. I hope this helps. As far as installing a levee; ALL of this damage was caused by flowing water. Flowing water created the Grand Canyon and other canyons.
I am not a civil engineer and have not done all the calculations required to design an emergency spillway for the Oroville Dam. But just from visual inspection, it seems unnecessarily wide compared to every other emergency spillway I have ever seen.
I hear your frustration with the report from KRCA. They did not get it wrong, the rating is correct. They over hyped it with the tag line. In this case like many other ‘BREAKING NEWS”, hype attracts readers, viewers. Viewers mean more revenue. Today news is more ‘entertainment”. Stop watching/reading delivered news. Watch RUclips with great stuff from Juan Brown. Bye the way you are a great Dad🤠🤠
I very much wanted to add my concerns about today's "news culture" and how it is presented. Juan, do you make a point of correcting news outlets when they put out these kinds of reports? ie; the infamous Green Spot comes to mind. From my perspective, the future of democracy is at risk because it has become so hard for some, to distinguish the facts from the Bullshit. If you remember the movie about the Tucker car, all it took to start investment dollars rolling in was the realization that if the public saw the car in print, in newspapers and magazines, that they would believe an actual car existed and they would happily turn over their money! Such is the faith that people used to have in their media to report the truth. Deserved or not. Most were deserved. Newspapers have always been a great way for some to get rich going right back to the beginning and they certainly didn't always tell the truth but usually, it was recognised for what it was. Walter Chronkite. We need you back.
The statement at 16:05 also seems less than accurate, that once the work is done, the Division of Safety of Dams will re-evaluate... this suggests that these inspectors are sitting back on their fat behinds in their comfy swivel chairs in their air-conditioned office, doing nothing till they get the call - and will then go strolling out like Buford T Justice looking for anything suspect. If it’s run like any residential construction project, inspections should be continuous and ongoing. The final sign off should just be a formality. If not, then “something’s terribly wrong somewhere”, to quote Colonel Lionel Mandrake...
It is not open, it is engineered to stifle free discourse and exchange of ideas, and opinions. I don't know the answer but big tech is controlling what you read and see on your tv.
I would love to learn more about the process with the dentates at the bottom. It seems the process has possibly been longer than anticipated? First they did hydro demo to remove the outer layer of concrete. Since then they have been using jackhammers by hand and machine. It seems the time spent on these has been a lot compared to potentially just fully demolishing and starting from scratch. Can anyone shed more light on this?
I do not know what they teach in Journalism Schools today. I suspect the mainstream media corporate bosses (who foot some of their bills) are asking them to teach how to get the most eyeballs on their broadcasts with the emphasis on exposing any negative sounding factor. This is a very big change from the news as it was when I was young, but the broadcast media in those days of just "the six o'clock news" got their press conference stories from the print media who had fact checkers, and the time to make the follow up calls to get it right. 24/7 news coverage has short-changed us all, I fear, as they use roughly the same staff size, but I think they must try to do both video editing and post on their web sites with the same overworked personnel.
Juan, I would be interested to hear the response from DWR on a question involving the costs to date (Actuals) and the projected Estimate To Complete (ETC). Your video shows Kiewet Actual costs at $630M. And they are projecting costs to go up to $1.1B including the DWR portion. But the question to ask them is "what is the percent complete on the work and how does that compare to the percentage of costs spent to date?". In other words, if they are 75% of budget spent versus 63% of total work complete, the ETC costs can be extrapolated to get to a projected total cost. Is that how they have reached the new $1.1B figure? And by the way, the DWR ETC value needs to be reported as well. Good job by your crack team of reporters.
Absolutely fantastic report! I like your crack mathematical team. I’m glad to see your back in the air in the Mighty Luscombe and once again able to give us a bird’s eye view of the dam. Thanks for clarifying the fake news.
Very informative. I'm a carpenter (retired since 2012) and I worked on "the big dig" in Boston for different contractors over a period of five or six years from 1997 until 2002. I worked for a few different giant construction companies such as Kiewit, Modern Continental Const Co., Perini Corp., and Cashman Const. on different phases of that project. Kiewit was easily the best, safest, most professional outfit of the bunch. I was proud to have worked for them.
Just going to show (prove) that even a 6 year old can do the math-even when MSM just cannot manage it! Thanks to both Pete and Julianne for your help & congrats young lady on your new position with the PRESS!!!! Thats SUPER DUPER!!!! Taking after Grandma and Dad-doing some writing. Good luck!
The DWR drone videos are nice to watch but Juan's commentated video and stills are superb and informative. As Juan said the relative cost between the fires and the Orville repairs is an eye opener.At least in the case of the spillways there will be something concrete (sorry!) to see for many years to come.
😆😄Great performance Juan,that was some real live reporting.I liked how you stated the facts and then stepped out of the cameras view.Yea,fake media is plastered on every social media,now day's.That's why I rarely read or watch any news and when I do,I've learned to take it with a grain of salt,sort of speak!News has never been about the facts,all they report on is drama.As if our lives don't have enough already.I'll stick to the Blancolirio Channel for the facts.Stay safe out there Juan and cheers.
When there is a lot of rain all the news crews come by to take video and people to go out to see them. That is why we have video when the spillway failed. In most cases there are public roads that allow you drive buy and see it. So you cannot keep people away. In fact prior to the construction people would drive over the dam and spillway to reach a parking lot and boat ramp.
Prior to construction you could drive ALONG SIDE OF the dam and ACROSS the spillway. After 9-11 no one can drive over the dam due to the fear of someone driving a vehicle loaded with explosives on the dam itself and destroying it. Pedestrians can cross the dam at will. It's a wonderful place to jog. I live one mile north east of the dam.
Excellent report Juan, as usual. Keep up the passion and good work with this project. Also, kudos to your excellent financial staff for getting the math correct.
The enormous scale of the original project is probably beyond the ability of any state to afford today. At Grand Coulee, their tour guide said that that system could never be built today because of the costs. There are many damaged moving parts to this unique Oroville system, such as the second power plant, end-stage trunnion gate structure, and erosion corridors on the face of the main dam, which have yet to be addressed. The old spillway was thin. This one is so thick, the weight of a mile long stretch of RCC and concrete, on a 25% grade, is requiring additional ties to the bedrock - which undermine the integrity of the concrete. A huge amount of money will be required to keep this system operational in the future. I hope a new approach is being considered before another billion is poured into the repairs.
Great work Juan. Can you make a drawing of how the "emergency spillway" flows? It looks like after water tops the dam it flows into that stepped pit (or what looks like a stepped pit). If that is correct where does the water go next?
Note the dam is a earth filled structure. i water flowed over the top it would erode and fail in a few hours. So water is never allowed to flow over the top of earth filled dam. The top of the dam is higher up than then the spillway. When the lake level gets high enough it simply flows down the spillway. Valves at the top of the spillway allow the water tu be shut off if needed. The emergency spillway is higher up than the main spillway but still lower than the dam. The main and emergency spillways are low spots on the hill right next to the dam. Water never naturally flowed one the low spots on the hill. So when the spillway failed they closed the valves to inspect and repair it. However it was already beyond repair. They then elected to allow water to flow over the emergency spillway which had never been used. Unfortunately the erosion was higher then expected so they had to open the spillway even though it was damaged.
They may be raising fear and discontent...but they’re also raising money. They only make money if we keep watching. That is their motivation. Thanks Juan for actually reporting honestly.
@blancolirio Hi Juan, great factual reporting by you and your team! Question: once the spillway is completed, is there a plan in place to test it next year with a water release over it?
Interesting question on the RCC: If it takes a heavy dose of water to activate, does it ever become a problem in heavy rain? Could it possibly wash away if the emergency spillway is used? Not that I see either happening, but water activation is something I've never heard of.
Appreciate your diligence in covering this ongoing project. Watch all of your videos... Loving the verity... Thanks for sharing.
Watching from the UK. Great video as always presented by 3 top quality reporters. Juan, The Kids and the Luscombe all in one vid.
Thankyou Juan from Melbourne Australia, unambiguous, clear and concise young reporter and mathematician, Dad you are very easy to understand also. Thankyou again.
KCRA TV used to be a very good area media source, unfortunately, they seem to be following the general media trend of lower quality reporting and more sensationalizing. Times have sure changed. 😞. Excellent report, as usual, Juan.
I agree. It's all about the almighty advertising dollar.
Well said. The who, what where, when, why is missing. TV is seven seconds of video, 90 seconds of commercial. I have been told one can no longer get a degree in journalism. Don't know if investigative reporting is still alive.
Some reasons:
1- Media has always been bad, we were just never able to find out and spread the word how bad they were until the internet. Those great journalists of yesteryear did a fair bit of sensationalistic reporting themselves. I recall a news outlet in the early 90s rigging a car to be more likely to ignite when they crash tested it to determine if the gas tank location was unsafe.
2- The internet has made news nearly free, taking away most of the profit for news gatherers. The big media outlets are small shells of their former selves, and real reporters, out collecting and collating information are expensive. Most news nowadays comes from Twitter or an underpaid, underqualified reporter hastily dispatched to a news conference.
3- clickbait culture and ideologically segmented media markets guarantee that the most sensationalistic headline that can be put on an article will be. Even at the expense of the long term reputation of the media outlet. Clicks equal page views, equal ad views, equal income. The quality of the product, the news, is largely secondary for cash flow challenged news outlets.
4- our education system has been changed from one that was designed to produce well informed, well rounded citizens to one that produces the right ideology. A J school journalist no doubt knows all about social justice, racism in America, etc. But they don't seem to teach actual basic journalism, how to properly research and source a topic, and how to keep their own opinions out of their reporting.
It is sad, but it is what it is. Guys like Juan, places like Twitter and Facebook have become the defacto place to get the straight scoop. But you have to look for it, and sift through the garbage and propaganda to find it.
Remind me again now, this was the emergency spillway, the one that looks like a gold pan, and it would never need to be used again, ever, that one? What a good dad you are Juan, this is what building confidence in children looks like, a parent who really sees them and encourages them to be the people they are meant to be.
:) smart kids ! when my daughter was 3, I came home and she announced she had learned to count to 100 - which, she's one of "those" kids who would blow your mind from time to time.... so I bit and asked to hear her get as far as she could... "One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one-hundred"... (she's an important lawyer now 30 years later)
Lyle...LOL...Absolutely..a born lawyer...!!
Isn't that how lawyer charge their clients ?
Umm... not in my experience. You really come to appreciate lawyers when you need one, and they are well worth their cost then.... (she doesn't have clients btw)
Thank you Pete for “Showing Me the Money 💰! And Julianne for the Ace ♥️ reporting just like Dad! Great Job Juan!
Thanks for keeping us updated Juan! Great job! I love that you incorporate your kids too. They both did such a great job!!!
Thank you sir......Enjoy your factual reports and updates.
Makes perfect sense Juan. State and water districts take subscribers and tax payers monies, uses them for expenditures other that maintenance and upkeep of the water district, then demands money to pay for fixes that were supposed to be covered from original fees paid.
Your crack team of financial advisors has a better grasp of financial items than government in most locations. Plus one for TEAM BROWNE!
Thank you once again for a great report! And thank you for calling out the mainstream fools. Yet another example of why I don't listen to ANY of them anymore. Real reporting in truth only comes from people like you, my friend!
thank you so much for all your hard work and honest reporting. When I first saw the news about the dam and all the problems happening there I didn't realize just how huge this thing is until I started to watch all the videos about the work being done to repair it I love to follow all the progress and thank you so much for all your reporting. I used to work in construction, I was a welder on a pile driving project in Vermont and when I look at all going on there I am amazed at the scope of the work being done and just how fast it is being completed.
Juan, as always, thank you for your reporting on this project. It is so far above the MSM it's not even a competition. Thank you for attempting to discern the facts and relate them to the rest of us in a meaningful manner. I wish the MSM would take a cue from you on this. God bless ya.
Great job, Juan! If they can’t get that right how in the world can they get national politics right? We appreciate your integrity in reporting all of these issues.
Great reporting as always Juan! I've worked in procurement for 40 years both in the commercial and government sectors and I actually think the $1.1 billion is not bad considering the massive size of the job! You have a great Accountant there!!!
I agree. Before they are done, and that would include repairing the spillway gates, I would not be surprised if they were in the $1.75 to $2.0 billion range. That's a one-time cost of about $70 per citizen of the Great Cali Republic. Frankly, it is money well spent. Heck, we spend over $13 billion PER YEAR to incarcerate 137,000 felons (about $95 thousand each and every year, per inmate, or a yearly cost to each Cali citizen of over $400).
Thanks for linking the KCRA report! Good reporting Juan!
Hey Juan, top notch report on an always fascinating Oroville Dam. Great and humorous work by your crack financial team, you show wonderful patience with your kids that`s nice to see. I understand your frustration with muck raking media, it gets a little tedious. I see a very conscientious effort by all involved to make this dam as solid as possible to protect lives and economic interests. Well done!
First thanks a Lot Juan!
I'm living in Germany (quite a distance, huh - please excuse my bad english...) following your great reports since the beginning, please keep going on with this. :-)
There is one thing, i do not understand (maybe i have missed some details):
Those energy dissipators (is that spelled correctly?) at the end of the Spillway - do they count as a "national monument" or something like that?
Kiewitt is playing around with those blocks for MONTHS now, without any significant progress. Yes i know they are huge, but would it not have been much easier to blast the old dentates and pour them completely new? Just thinking...First those structures were chissled, jet-cutted and sandblasted and there was new rebar glued in place and connected to the old rebar and work ist still FAR from beeing finished at the dentates - it seems to me, that this part of the spillway must not be built new, no matter, how much it takes or costs to "repair" the old ones...
Is there any reason, i do not know about?
Does the whole Oroville-Comlpex loose the permit for staying in use, if those dentates would been built new? Or something like that..?
PLEASE let me know, why this minimal part of the whole Spillway is restored like a piece of fine art probably at costs that come up to a piece of art too... ;-)
Your English is nearly perfect, no need to apologize.
The damage to the dentates was "just" surface damage caused when debris hit them and chipped them. They definitely didn't have to blast them out and start over. But chipped dentates are a problem because the chipped surfaces can erode further if not repaired correctly. The surface must be properly prepared so that the new surface concrete adheres to the base concrete and withstands the high velocity water that it will be subjected to. It's probably slow going because it's not a high priority part of the project so they've only got just a few people working on it. They've still got a couple of months to get the whole job done.
dlwatib: Yeah, of all the things that did go down during the emergency, the dentates held up really really well. They were tested by fire, or rather tested by water and debris, and proved to be fully sufficed.
Juan,
Thank you for this report and all your efforts! Much respect to you as a veteran, pilot, reporter, and father.
God bless you and your family.
Paul
My favorite reporter! Nice exposure of "fake news" - typical!
Juan - you do great and thanks. :)
Let's call the 'fake news' for what it really is. It's deliberate LYING...!!
I expect more from KCRA.
Let's be specific, though. It's not "fake" news, it's "inadequate" news.
Many (not all) news reporters these days simply are not motivated to do their jobs well. They're commit driven by their corporate managers to complete tasks with minimal effort and maximum efficiency, and that's why we get bad reporting. It has nothing to do with politics or some bizzare conspiracy that the news wants to get everything wrong. It's simply the result that you get when you dictate efficiency over quality.
you are spot on. I almost feel enclined to apologise for the absurd, troll reactions that as they always occur seem inevitable nowadays. some fine countrymen.. you do some good little piece of analysis and the very first one to respond is someone who can only think 'butthole' and 'stink'. As being aggressive is also already on the part of this type of being, I am afraid there is no other route than the further promotion of the idea of peaceful coexistence, even though I do not really favour to coexist with any of the type that utters this way and that seem to have no other, better higher, or be it even somewhat more spiritual thought
why call it fake news,how about bad or unprofessional reporting.i think it is wrong to call all mainstream media fake news! just my 2 cents!
It is fortunate that this project is able to use the sand and aggregate that are on location. I live in CT. and we have a disaster unfolding in the eastern part of the state due to defective concrete and it is a problem for many thousands of homeowners. Aggregate from a quarry was apparently never properly tested. The aggregate contains a mineral called Pyrrhotite which causes the concrete to crack and fall apart. There is no repair process - the foundation must be replaced. If the aggregate at Oroville had been found to be unsatisfactory the final repair bill would probably be a much uglier number.
We're lucky that most of the aggregate around the Oroville area is granite based.
So what concrete companies in CT did not test their product?? Yes, California is Rich in mineral content of all kinds
I learned something today...
you have to carry the 1... this explains everything.
Juan….. you are absolutely Right you are true reporter on spillway thanks.
Re MSM and "fake news." MSM being bad does not make the alternatives better. Don't tell me the crapola that Alex Jones spews tops MSM. For the most part I'll take MSM but it's relatively easy to spot the good guys, Juan being the best example I've seen. Keep up the great work Juan!
Thank you Juan for once again correctly reporting on the Oroville dam repair work
Whooot! An update on Oroville, finally. Thanks, Blanco!
But don't get me wrong -- I LOVE your other vids on the bikes, hikes and your likes.
agreed, and the Progress on the Spillways looks fantastic. B)
Thanks for including the children!! You’re giving good training and set a great example. Good update as usual.
As the rainy season approaches, how are the levies and the rest of the watershed downstream, two years later?
Great update, Juan, especially calling out a local TV station on their fear-mongering--cheap shot of them! As usual, you give facts, not fear, and perspective, not misdirection and manipulation .. unlike that TV station! Your crack Blancolirio team are gaining such sophistication of subjects and interaction with the audience that they are totally disarming and charming at the same time--great tutelage on the part of their overseeing masters! Have definitely shared!
GET FIRED UP, Juan!!
The mainstream media IS garbage!
And as always, another great dam update. I've been waiting soooo long I was forced to watch one of your dirt bike reviews.
And as always, another great take. I don't even ride 2 wheels. But if I did, it would be THAT bike!
I'd also fly THAT plane, were it that I had the slightest inclination to fly a plane myself.
I'd also gladly fly on whatever airline you fly for.
Your first grader knew to put the cap back on the dry erase marker when he thought he was finished writing. A first grader! I discovered today a follow employee aged 19 who did not know powdered coffee creamer even existed until I showed her my secret stash in a pint mason jar. 'Mind-blown' I think is the hip description.
God bless and protect you and your family. Many crowns for you sir.
I was waiting for you to say that the KCRA story was utter “horse shit.” You kept it together. Nice job, Juan.
damn near bit my tongue off...
blancolirio ...I bet it’s equally as difficult to resist the urge to post on their page about how BS their story is.
Excellent updates as usual. I always look forward to your reports.
I was expecting "bollocks", then I realized this is an American channel
you can see the word 'bullshit' forming in juans mouth - but the stranges it down and keeps his composure. You may switch to ground on 125 point niner, have a good day.
Thank you Juan and Pete! Great presentation and analysis on financials.
Thanks for the update. The financial analysis at the beginning was the best part.
Yet, another outstanding report, thanks Juan.
Juan, this has been a impressive and exciting journey with you as you have shown all your dam updates and commentary. I can think of no other news reports that have been as thorough and complete as yours has been.
Great family. Great presentation. Blessings to you and your beautiful family.
The firefighting cost sure does put the Oroville cost in perspective.
Yeah, how much of that is profit?
Wow, what a great presentation
Thanks for all your hard, dedicated work Juan
Cost managers for big government contracts always figure 4 to 5 times projected contract costs. I've been told this and I've seen it play out in several projects.
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Polaris Missile System
B-1 Bomber
LLNL Laser
As for the reporting that comes out of Main Stream Media, that's why we watch good reporting like yours Juan. I've gotten to the point that I only read headlines in my "Main Stream Media" papers and zero in on selected alternative media reporters in areas I'm interested.
Top notch report as always Juan. Your look of complete exasperation when mentioning the KCRA report spoke volumes, you really didn't need words for that bit! The emergency spillway with the terracing effect looks amazing from the air, will be interesting to see what it's like when all the construction work is finished.
Thank you Juan for your informative videos. I also feel your frustrations with the mainstream media.
Breaking it down 1st grade style! Great job Pete.
LINK TO KCRA STORY
www.kcra.com/article/report-oroville-dam-has-unsatisfactory-rating-for-2nd-year-in-a-row/22988402
Looks like they have ammended the story at KCRA... too late the damage was done - "The Oroville Dam is inspected twice a year by state and federal engineers. Once construction is completed, the department anticipates the next report will show Oroville Dam back in the satisfactory category."
Thanks again Juan for your time an knowledge also fir getting the story right about the rating. Great truthful honesty, an integrity in your reporting something the major news outlets need to follow
The prespective you brought to this project is highly commendable Jaun. A plauque with your name on it has to be considered.
Once again, excellent report Juan. Thanks for the dam update!! I sure can't wait for that update on the wall fire area so we can compare before and after for some of the area affected by the fire Thanks again Juan!
Another great report, Juan. Thanks.
Re: the dentates(sp?) It seems to me that they maybe didn't anticipate how much there was to do. They started out with "pressure washers" (my term) and ended up using the big pavement breaker.
Thanks for the great update! Don't forget to reference the great DWR videos on RUclips as well for progress reports. Sent you some fuel tips.
Good point. Thanks!
The sad thing is if someone from the media told people to jump off a cliff half the people would listen and jump off the cliff, and NOT Question them.
Thank you Juan! So tired of the MSM hype and fake reporting of no news! Sad! But if we want factual reporting of Oroville Dam...go to Juan Browne! Great video! 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
On the KCRA report: First, I hope that there was a KCRA reporter on the call to get Juan's clarification and criticism in person. Second, the Division of Safety of Dams partially brought this on by having such an uninformative rating. They should have a rating that better conveys "Known deficiency has remediation in progress, proceeding in a satisfactory manner, and expected to produce a satisfactory result at low risk". As usual, Juan, thanks for your interest in this story, and clear, insightful reporting.
I did get through to the news room...nothing changed.
It looks like there is something going on in the area in front of the spillway (closest to the lake). I am looking at the side where the earth is raised and wondering if they are doing anything there? I can't tell if that is just rock. Is that area going to be reinforced with a wall? Thanks for the work you have done on this Juan.
Not surprised the MSM got it wrong! Once this is all over, you'll have to fly us up there once in a while to see the dam, please, I find I will miss these little trips! :) Thanks, Juan!
How dare you be clear and concise and Report the true facts.
Are all 6 turbines now available at the power plant? I thought one might still be undergoing refurbishment or repair. Additionally, were the cost for repairing the power plant included in the DWR $310m expense? You mentioned power line relocation, so I also assume any other costs for the power plant were included in.
I think you are correct.
1.1 B is a bargain. I worked in the construction of Fujitsu's FAB-2 [Intel Chip Plant & Silicon Wafer Plant] in Gresham back in the 90s and the cost was 1.2B
Doesn't a plant making a product have a better ROI? As in the investment is returned by profit of the product produced at the plant. Is this plant going to give away 1.1B in power to tax payers? Water? or is it more complicated to measure the ROI on something like flood protection, water storage etc? That Intel plant had investors that knew they would make many more dollars back off the investment. This isn't the case on repairing a dam.
If you had good enough data from before the dam was built you could calculate the improvement in agricultural productivity from the irrigation and flood control that the dam provides and call that the ROI. Other potential benefits are much harder to quantify.
FLoat, actually, FAB-2 never went into full production because by the time it was finished [2 years], it was archaic... Moore's Law and all. So, 1.1B kind of wasted.
As opposed to benefits of a dam in CA. Dams are infrastructure, most infrastructure is a very necessary "waste of money".
Oroville dam makes momey in three ways. Firstly, it saves the government a lot of money every few years when it prevents major, widespread flooding. Secondly, it creates a saleable commodity- water. And thirdly, it generates enough electricity to make supply of that water cheap for the owner of the dam.
ROI is not relevant on infrastructure projects- they are not an avoidable expense. Their costs are amortised by way of improvements in efficiency of the economy in general, which fosters industry.
At a guess, I would say just in the valley below Oroville dam, the increases in agricultural efficiency the farmers enjoy would pay for the costs in 10-15 years, and their earnings directly filter back to government through direct and indirect taxes, supply fees for water etc. Never mind the fact that the very next flood this dam prevents will have paid for these repairs ten times over.
ROI is a simplistic, shareholder greed driven point of view, which is why so many companies don't re-invest in themselves anymore, preferring to pander to the wants of their short sighted shareholders who want instant gratification.
I've lived in Sacramento since 1985....KCRA 3 and the Sacramento Bee newspaper really like to 'dig up dirt' and try the gloom and doom news scenario....
I've seen Kiewit doing other work around here in the past...never heard of any sort of problems. Their 'injury' rating for the Oroville Dam is very good, considering how big that repair job is..!
Thanks Blanco !!Good job - I really dislike the press here too in the UK !
It's really something else over there!
Keep an eye on your 6 Juan. You have a reporter coming up that's not going to let a glass ceiling stop her.
it looks like there's a new road that runs behind the intake to the main spillway now, (I think its new?) is it expected to be submerged this rainy season? or will they be able to continue using it throughout the rainy season? and if it does get submerged will it become damaged?
submerged.
So cool that you involve the kids in stuff like this. They will remember it forever, and be better educated for it.
Oh Juan, the look on your face is priceless.
Thanks to you and your "consultant Assistant Pete" for another awesome update.
BTW the phrase should be " set in concrete" instead of stone.😎
THANKS BIG. Am very keenly interested in some close-up photos of where the emergency spillway ties into the hillside on the left end. It has looked in glimpses that they did a re-engineering of that but I'd sure like to see some detailed pics of that.
Great job Juan on presenting real facts and asking real questions. Congrats Julianne and way to go Pete. Im on the east coast so to get the real news on this, I only read and watch DWR and your vids to get the real story about what is happening.
Juan, can you explain why the emergency spillway has to be so wide, requiring such huge amounts of concrete? Why could it not be only as wide as the weir, with the section beyond the weir eliminated by installing a levee or some such behind the parking lot/boat ramp?
I am not Juan but can try to answer your question. A given amount of water can pass through a given area by gravity. Take 100 sq ft-that is 10 ft by 10 ft or 5 ft by 20 ft or 1 ft by 100 ft.. In the third instance the lake level only rises one foot compared to a ten foot rise in the first instance. With the added depth of water of ten feet there is added energy to the water flow. I hope this helps. As far as installing a levee; ALL of this damage was caused by flowing water. Flowing water created the Grand Canyon and other canyons.
I am not a civil engineer and have not done all the calculations required to design an emergency spillway for the Oroville Dam. But just from visual inspection, it seems unnecessarily wide compared to every other emergency spillway I have ever seen.
I hear your frustration with the report from KRCA. They did not get it wrong, the rating is correct. They over hyped it with the tag line. In this case like many other ‘BREAKING NEWS”, hype attracts readers, viewers. Viewers mean more revenue. Today news is more ‘entertainment”. Stop watching/reading delivered news. Watch RUclips with great stuff from Juan Brown. Bye the way you are a great Dad🤠🤠
Do not make excuses for these liars. They are lazy and do not do their jobs.
I very much wanted to add my concerns about today's "news culture" and how it is presented. Juan, do you make a point of correcting news outlets when they put out these kinds of reports? ie; the infamous Green Spot comes to mind. From my perspective, the future of democracy is at risk because it has become so hard for some, to distinguish the facts from the Bullshit. If you remember the movie about the Tucker car, all it took to start investment dollars rolling in was the realization that if the public saw the car in print, in newspapers and magazines, that they would believe an actual car existed and they would happily turn over their money! Such is the faith that people used to have in their media to report the truth. Deserved or not. Most were deserved. Newspapers have always been a great way for some to get rich going right back to the beginning and they certainly didn't always tell the truth but usually, it was recognised for what it was. Walter Chronkite. We need you back.
The statement at 16:05 also seems less than accurate, that once the work is done, the Division of Safety of Dams will re-evaluate... this suggests that these inspectors are sitting back on their fat behinds in their comfy swivel chairs in their air-conditioned office, doing nothing till they get the call - and will then go strolling out like Buford T Justice looking for anything suspect.
If it’s run like any residential construction project, inspections should be continuous and ongoing. The final sign off should just be a formality. If not, then “something’s terribly wrong somewhere”, to quote Colonel Lionel Mandrake...
It is not open, it is engineered to stifle free discourse and exchange of ideas, and opinions. I don't know the answer but big tech is controlling what you read and see on your tv.
I would love to learn more about the process with the dentates at the bottom. It seems the process has possibly been longer than anticipated? First they did hydro demo to remove the outer layer of concrete. Since then they have been using jackhammers by hand and machine. It seems the time spent on these has been a lot compared to potentially just fully demolishing and starting from scratch. Can anyone shed more light on this?
I do not know what they teach in Journalism Schools today. I suspect the mainstream media corporate bosses (who foot some of their bills) are asking them to teach how to get the most eyeballs on their broadcasts with the emphasis on exposing any negative sounding factor. This is a very big change from the news as it was when I was young, but the broadcast media in those days of just "the six o'clock news" got their press conference stories from the print media who had fact checkers, and the time to make the follow up calls to get it right.
24/7 news coverage has short-changed us all, I fear, as they use roughly the same staff size, but I think they must try to do both video editing and post on their web sites with the same overworked personnel.
The media....misrepresenting the facts....SHOCKER!!!! LMAO Thank you, Juan, for spreading the facts.
Juan, You set a great example of how engaged we should be as citizens.
Follow Juan's lead!!
Juan, I would be interested to hear the response from DWR on a question involving the costs to date (Actuals) and the projected Estimate To Complete (ETC). Your video shows Kiewet Actual costs at $630M. And they are projecting costs to go up to $1.1B including the DWR portion. But the question to ask them is "what is the percent complete on the work and how does that compare to the percentage of costs spent to date?". In other words, if they are 75% of budget spent versus 63% of total work complete, the ETC costs can be extrapolated to get to a projected total cost. Is that how they have reached the new $1.1B figure? And by the way, the DWR ETC value needs to be reported as well.
Good job by your crack team of reporters.
Can I get a refferal to your finance guy to work on my taxes?
You owe 100 million billion.
igo4snow lol when he’s done being state treasurer
LOL!!!
He would probably get it done faster and correct!
Absolutely fantastic report! I like your crack mathematical team. I’m glad to see your back in the air in the Mighty Luscombe and once again able to give us a bird’s eye view of the dam. Thanks for clarifying the fake news.
Very informative. I'm a carpenter (retired since 2012) and I worked on "the big dig" in Boston for different contractors over a period of five or six years from 1997 until 2002. I worked for a few different giant construction companies such as Kiewit, Modern Continental Const Co., Perini Corp., and Cashman Const. on different phases of that project. Kiewit was easily the best, safest, most professional outfit of the bunch. I was proud to have worked for them.
Excellent!
Just going to show (prove) that even a 6 year old can do the math-even when MSM just cannot manage it! Thanks to both Pete and Julianne for your help & congrats young lady on your new position with the PRESS!!!! Thats SUPER DUPER!!!! Taking after Grandma and Dad-doing some writing. Good luck!
The DWR drone videos are nice to watch but Juan's commentated video and stills are superb and informative.
As Juan said the relative cost between the fires and the Orville repairs is an eye opener.At least in the case of the spillways there will be something concrete (sorry!) to see for many years to come.
Ha! Close as I've seen you come to a rant Juan. Thanks for the update. Your time and effort put into these reports is appreciated.
Great update, Juan! Congratulations to Julianne for "getting in the game"! Pete did a great job as well! Thanks, Juan!
😆😄Great performance Juan,that was some real live reporting.I liked how you stated the facts and then stepped out of the cameras view.Yea,fake media is plastered on every social media,now day's.That's why I rarely read or watch any news and when I do,I've learned to take it with a grain of salt,sort of speak!News has never been about the facts,all they report on is drama.As if our lives don't have enough already.I'll stick to the Blancolirio Channel for the facts.Stay safe out there Juan and cheers.
This is your best video ... made me laugh right out loud.
This reminds me why I cancelled cable and only watch youtube........... Love it
Thanks again, Juan!
That emergency spillway will be quite a tourist attraction I think?
I assume the taxpayers will never be allowed near it!
When there is a lot of rain all the news crews come by to take video and people to go out to see them. That is why we have video when the spillway failed. In most cases there are public roads that allow you drive buy and see it. So you cannot keep people away. In fact prior to the construction people would drive over the dam and spillway to reach a parking lot and boat ramp.
Prior to construction you could drive ALONG SIDE OF the dam and ACROSS the spillway. After 9-11 no one can drive over the dam due to the fear of someone driving a vehicle loaded with explosives on the dam itself and destroying it. Pedestrians can cross the dam at will. It's a wonderful place to jog. I live one mile north east of the dam.
Excellent report Juan, as usual. Keep up the passion and good work with this project. Also, kudos to your excellent financial staff for getting the math correct.
Juan, I subscribed to your channel because you report FACTS and do so in an entertaining way. Thank you.
get it Juan!!!! hate the misleading BS from the mainstream media. no accountability.
Right on ! Juan could you look into Yellowstone for us ?
The enormous scale of the original project is probably beyond the ability of any state to afford today. At Grand Coulee, their tour guide said that that system could never be built today because of the costs. There are many damaged moving parts to this unique Oroville system, such as the second power plant, end-stage trunnion gate structure, and erosion corridors on the face of the main dam, which have yet to be addressed. The old spillway was thin. This one is so thick, the weight of a mile long stretch of RCC and concrete, on a 25% grade, is requiring additional ties to the bedrock - which undermine the integrity of the concrete. A huge amount of money will be required to keep this system operational in the future. I hope a new approach is being considered before another billion is poured into the repairs.
So, the $1.1 billion cost is not set in structural concrete and is subject to change.
Any word on the maintenance of the main spill way gates? Doesn’t seem to get any mention. Another great video Juan. Thanks.
Great work Juan.
Can you make a drawing of how the "emergency spillway" flows? It looks like after water tops the dam it flows into that stepped pit (or what looks like a stepped pit). If that is correct where does the water go next?
There are two low points at the cutoff wall. The water will flow down the splash pad then down to the river.
If I remember correctly, the low points are at places of preexisting canyons which, presumably, can reasonably handle the flows...
Down the hill.
Note the dam is a earth filled structure. i water flowed over the top it would erode and fail in a few hours. So water is never allowed to flow over the top of earth filled dam.
The top of the dam is higher up than then the spillway. When the lake level gets high enough it simply flows down the spillway. Valves at the top of the spillway allow the water tu be shut off if needed. The emergency spillway is higher up than the main spillway but still lower than the dam. The main and emergency spillways are low spots on the hill right next to the dam. Water never naturally flowed one the low spots on the hill.
So when the spillway failed they closed the valves to inspect and repair it. However it was already beyond repair. They then elected to allow water to flow over the emergency spillway which had never been used. Unfortunately the erosion was higher then expected so they had to open the spillway even though it was damaged.
Great reporting on that damn issue glad I ran across the channel during that disaster always a pleasure seeing you interacting with the kids.👍
Thanks Juan. I love when you include the kids.
Costs are amazing. How does CA pay for that? How much Federal monies do they get? Thanks Juan.
A population of 40 million...some who pay taxes...
I hope you have Juliane and Pete on the payroll, they are too cute! 👍🏻👍🏻 Thank you for the fantastic update! Good job. ✌🏻
The mighty Luscombe and the kids when they were young. Perfect 🎸 Oh yeah, great reaction shot to the 1.1 billion 🎸
Always a pleasure watching your informative presentations
Juan im wondering about that emergency spillway. Where is the re-enforcment, the anchor bolts, the expansion joints, the underslab drainage???
Its RCC...no steel.
They may be raising fear and discontent...but they’re also raising money. They only make money if we keep watching. That is their motivation. Thanks Juan for actually reporting honestly.
@blancolirio Hi Juan, great factual reporting by you and your team! Question: once the spillway is completed, is there a plan in place to test it next year with a water release over it?
They are working on next years water plan. They'll use it if and when they need to...maybe start with a low flow out of the main spillway.
Interesting question on the RCC: If it takes a heavy dose of water to activate, does it ever become a problem in heavy rain?
Could it possibly wash away if the emergency spillway is used?
Not that I see either happening, but water activation is something I've never heard of.
The final layer is 'erosion resistant'