Porterville Recorder

California lawmakers boost dam checks after near disaster

- By DON THOMPSON

SACRAMENTO — California would beef up dam inspection­s under legislatio­n sent to Gov. Jerry Brown Monday, a year after a near disaster prompted the evacuation of nearly 200,000 residents living downstream from the tallest U.S. dam.

The Assembly unanimousl­y gave final approval to the bill requiring annual inspection­s for dams deemed to be high hazards.

The measure also sets standards for inspection­s, requires inspectors to consult with independen­t experts to update dam safety measures every 10 years and requires that inspection reports be available to the public with certain sensitive informatio­n withheld if it creates a security risk.

Republican Assemblyma­n James Gallagher was among those who evacuated when officials feared the collapse of both the main and emergency spillways before they were deemed safe days later.

“We left not knowing if we would even have a home to return to. But we came back vowing ‘Never again,”’ said Gallagher, who sponsored the bill. “This disaster jeopardize­d lives, property and California’s water supply.”

The bill implements several subsequent experts’ recommenda­tions, including requiring that inspectors no longer simply accept the safety presumed in original design and constructi­on materials, said Democratic Assemblywo­man Susan Talamantes Eggman of Stockton.

The annual inspection­s would be required for dams classified as being significan­t, high or extremely high hazards, and every two years for dams classified as low hazard. Critical spillway control features would have to be tested each year and witnessed by state inspectors at least every three years.

The federal rankings are based on factors including the size of the dam and its degree of risk to people downstream, not the dam’s current condition.

A separate new law requires California dam inspectors to also consider the dam’s condition. California has 678 dams deemed high hazard, 271 deemed significan­t hazard and 289 low hazard under the federal guidelines.

Officials and residents of communitie­s downstream from Oroville Dam, many wearing black “We Give A Dam” t-shirts, later called for the state to pay more than $1 billion in damages claims in pending lawsuits, and for the federal government to include community representa­tives in dam relicensin­g discussion­s.

“We shouldn’t have to host this bathtub without being made whole,” Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly said at a Capitol news conference.

 ?? AP PHOTO BY RICH PEDRONCELL­I ?? This Oct. 19, 2017 file photo shows repair work on the damaged main spillway of the Oroville Dam in Oroville. One year after the closest thing to disaster at a major U.S. dam in a generation, federal dam regulators say they are looking hard at how they...
AP PHOTO BY RICH PEDRONCELL­I This Oct. 19, 2017 file photo shows repair work on the damaged main spillway of the Oroville Dam in Oroville. One year after the closest thing to disaster at a major U.S. dam in a generation, federal dam regulators say they are looking hard at how they...

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