Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said Monday she’ll ask for a comprehensive investigation of the county’s system of dams, spillways and other water collecting structures to determine if there are any potential threats to public safety.
Her request, to be made Tuesday during the Board of Supervisors meeting, comes just a day after 185,000 people were ordered evacuated near the Oroville Dam, east of the Sacramento Valley. A few days ago, water levels in Lake Oroville rose to the top. Water couldn’t be drained fast enough down the main concrete spillway because it had partially collapsed. Millions of gallons of water began flowing over the dam’s emergency spillway for the first time in its 50-year history, according to news reports. That prompted Sunday’s massive evacuation and an urgent attempt to shore up the spillway before an upcoming rain storm.
“The Oroville situation reminds us of the need to proactively evaluate our county’s risk with regard to dams and other facilities which may be prone to failure from storms, earthquakes or other foreseeable events,” Barger said in a statement.
Activists told the Mercury News Sunday that more than a decade ago, federal and state officials and some of California’s largest water agencies rejected concerns that the massive spillway at Oroville Dam, could erode during heavy winter rains.
L.A. County operates 15 dams, including the Pacoima Dam, which is one of the largest and was damaged in the Northridge Earthquake in 1994. In 1999, the county Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a $10.5 million to $12.5 million project to construct a spillway, control house and helicopter pad, at the Pacoima Dam and upgrade valve and other systems.
Other dams have undergone work that has cost the department more than $165 million including Devil’s Gate, Big Dalton, San Gabriel, Sawpit, Thompson Creek, Eaton and Big Tujunga dams.
Barger’s motion also will instruct the county’s Department of Public Works to work with other county agencies as well as state and federal partners to “develop a list of priority infrastructure projects by district.”
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