California officials released water from Oroville Dam’s main spillway on Friday after recent storms and snowmelt expected to raise lake levels later this year. This is the second release of water at Oroville Dam’s reconstructed spillway since a flood crisis in 2017. The main spillway eroded the emergency spillway, forcing the evacuation of more than 180,000 people.| Video below Watch Oroville Dam water release with an exclusive view from Livecopter 3 on Lake Oroville in Butte County, the state’s second largest lake with a total surface area of 3.5 million acre-feet. It is part of the state water program that provides water to 27 million Californians. The spillway is 3,000 feet long and 180 feet wide. Ted Craddock, deputy director of the state water program for the Department of Water Resources, said the lake plays an important role in flood protection for communities downstream of the Feather River, such as Oroville and Yuba City. The lake holds up to 830,000. He said that acre-feet of land would be reserved for flood protection during the rainy season. The lake currently has a capacity of 2.7 million acre-feet, an increase of 1.7 million acre-feet before the first storms of the season in December. Modeling for upcoming storms shows 20,000-40,000 cubic feet of water per second entering the lake. , he said. After the spillway was reconstructed in 2017 and 2018, it was commissioned for the first time in April 2019 and released about 25,000 cubic feet per second. Friday’s output will be “relatively small” at 15,000 cubic feet per second, Craddock said. .The total capacity of the spillway is 270,000 cubic feet per second, he said.Expressing confidence in the spillway, he said it has been reconstructed with improved drainage and monitoring equipment. The spillway’s gates are tested annually and the facility has other inspections. “It’s a very strong system,” he said.
California officials on Friday released water from Oroville Dam’s main spillway after recent storms and snowmelt are expected to raise lake levels later this year.
This is the second water release at Oroville Dam’s reconstructed spillway after flooding in 2017 collapsed the main spillway, eroding the emergency spillway and forcing the evacuation of more than 180,000 people.
| Video below Watch Oroville Dam water release with exclusive footage from LiveCopter 3
Lake Oroville in Butte County is the second largest lake in the state, with a total volume of 3.5 million acre-feet. It is part of the state water program, which provides water to 27 million Californians.
It is 3,000 feet long and 180 feet wide.
Ted Craddock, deputy director of the State Water Program for the Department of Water Resources, said the lake plays an important role in flood protection for communities downstream of the lake on the Feather River, such as Oroville and Yuba City.
The lake has 830,000 acre-feet of space reserved for flood protection during monsoons, he said. The lake currently has a capacity of 2.7 million acre-feet, an increase of 1.7 million acre-feet before the first storms of the season in December.
Models for upcoming storms show 20,000-40,000 cubic feet of water per second entering the lake, he said.
After the spillway was reconstructed in 2017 and 2018, it was used for the first time in April 2019 to release 25,000 cubic feet per second.
Friday’s output will be “relatively small” at 15,000 cubic feet per second, Craddock said.
The total capacity of the spillway is 270,000 cubic feet per second, he said.
He expressed confidence in the spillway, saying it had been reconstructed with improved drainage and monitoring equipment. The spillway’s gates are tested annually and the facility has other inspections.
“It’s a very strong system,” he said.
