SUNDAY DECEMBER 10 2017 THE PUBLIC EYE Stressed dms cross stte often go yers without repirs RANDALL BENTON rbenton@scbee.com Rollins Dm on the Ber River in Nevd County hs vlve tht hsn t opened or shut properly since 2014. In 2016, the Nevd Irrigtion District, which owns the dm, told inspectors tht it ws designing replcement prts. Instlltion ws expected in November, but it s still uncler if the work ws completed. tht relese wter from reservoirs remin frozen in rsblow@scbee.com plce. Opertors sometimes fil to cler out clogged When it comes to inspecting dms, Cliforni is dringe systems criticl to mintining the second to none. A pnel of ntionl experts structurl integrity of spillwys nd dms. They re exmined the stte s Division of Sfety of Dms lso slow to remove trees, brush nd other vegetlst yer nd declred it tops in the field, citing tion whose roots cn clog drins, weken erthen inspectors knck for flgging smll problems dms or undermine slbs of concrete. before they turn serious. Stte officils sid the problems cited by inspecgetting dm owners to fix those flws quickly is tors re lmost lwys insignificnt, nd don t nother mtter. require immedite ttention. But experts sy the A Scrmento Bee investigtion prompted by the consequences from seemingly innocuous shortnerly ctstrophic filure of Oroville Dm s comings cn be considerble. A tem of investigflood-control spillwy in Februry found tht tors looking into wht owners of some of Cliforni s most importnt cused the devstting VIDEO dms those whose filure could cuse residents frcture of Oroville s A vlve t Rollins downstrem to lose their lives often llow spillwy pointed to Reservoir hsn t opened deficiencies to linger for yers even though these dringe system clogged shortcomings get cited repetedly in nnul inspec- with tree roots s probble or shut properly since 2014. www.scbee.com/ tion reports. contributing fctor. news/stte/cliforni/ Crcked concrete goes unptched. Rusted These little things dd equipment goes unrepired. Sensors tht mesure up, sid Jeffrey Mount, n wter-nd-drought/ rticle188707104.html pressure inside dms sty broken. Vlves nd gtes expert on flood mngeby RYAN SABALOW AND DALE KASLER
DAVID MIDDLECAMP Sn Luis Obispo Tribune file photo Mrk Hutchinson, Sn Luis Obispo County s deputy public works director, exmines the spillwy t Lopez Dm lst spring. It took four yers to pinpoint smll lek s cuse in concrete structure djcent to the dm spillwy. Remote cmers nd specilized concrete mixes were used. ment t the Public Policy Institute of Cliforni. Every one of them increses the likelihood of n ccident. Mount pointed to nerly forgotten incident t Folsom Dm, where bird droppings helped corrode the support rm of one of the spillwy gtes. The gte buckled on July 17, 199, relesing nerly hlf of the reservoir s wter over the next week or so filure tht could hve proven disstrous for downstrem residents in Scrmento if it hd hppened during the riny seson. While bird droppings weren t the min reson the gte filed, U.S. Bureu of Reclmtion officils sid they my hve been contributing fctor. The Bee bsed its findings on five yers of inspection reports by the Deprtment of Wter Resources Division of Sfety of Dms t 93 fcilities. Those re the dms where the stte directed owners to conduct comprehensive review of their spillwys in the ftermth of the Oroville crisis, which forced the evcution of 188,000 people nd is expected to cost $600 million. The reviews re ongoing. The stte singled out those dms, out of 1,249 under its uthority, in prt becuse construction records nd blueprints suggested problems could be lurking there. No federl dms, such s Shst or Folsom, re covered; they ren t under the stte s jurisdiction. Federl inspectors hve sid they re conducting reviews of the spillwys t federl dms fter the Oroville emergency. The reviews re supposed to be completed by Dec. 31. The stte inspection reports, beginning in 2012, reveled troubling pttern of dely nd deferrl of mintennce issues. At Hernndez Dm in Sn Benito County, dm employee pologized to stte inspector in July 2013 for not repiring dmged concrete on the spillwy, but the problem still hdn t been fixed when inspectors returned yer lter. At Rollins Dm in Nevd County, n outlet vlve got stuck when n employee ws demonstrting it for inspectors in 2014; it wouldn t open ll the wy for t lest the next two yers. At Iron Cnyon Dm in Shst County, inspectors found stnding wter in the spillwy chute for four stright yers, sign of blocked culvert. All but two of the 93 dms on the stte s list re considered high hzrd fcilities, mening filure could kill people downstrem. Every inspection report reviewed by The Bee pronounced the dms sfe for continued use, even if the sme shortcomings were cited yer fter yer. Dm owners nd stte officils insisted tht the problems cited by inspectors were minor nd didn t constitute thret to the integrity or sfety of the structures. Eric Vn Deuren, dm sfety officil t Pcific Gs nd Electric Co., sid the utility ddresses problems flgged by inspectors in order of seriousness. Inspectors found repeted problems t six different PG&E hydroelectric dms. If ny of those inspections hd reveled dm-sfety issues tht posed n immedite thret to the stbility of the dm or public sfety, then PG&E would not hve just st on them, he sid. In non-emergency sitution, dm owners sy it s pproprite to pln repirs methodiclly. For instnce, it took four yers to pinpoint the cuse nd repir smll lek in concrete structure djcent to the spillwy t Lopez Dm ner Sn Luis Obispo; the project required remote cmers nd specilized concrete mixes. Ptching spillwy is not like ptching
S.F. 3 6 80 30 33 16 101 27 31 24 13 21 22 38 37 0 99 2 18 7 Fresno 9 4 39 L.A. 28 1 10 23 10 0 miles 19 Sn Diego 8 Bishop Bkersfield 39 11 20 Of the 93 dms nlyzed by The Bee, these fcilities were cited for the sme problems multiple times by stte inspectors in the pst five yers. Dms with repeted inspection problems Source: Bee nlysis of Cliforni Dept. of Wter Resources inspection reports 12 2 1 39 36 34 17 Scrmento 29 26 32 3 14 1 Redding Other high-hzrd dms reviewed in Bee nlysis Dm with repeted deficiencies 101 8 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 1 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 2 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 3 36 37 38 39 Nme Antelope Berdsley Bell Cnyon Bishop Creek Briones Chbot Cherry Vlley Cogswell Crne Vlley Storge El Cpitn Florence Lke Gudlupe Hernndez Indin Vlley Iron Cnyon Lke Almnor Lke Curry Lke Fordyce Lke Hodges Long Vlley Lopez McSwin Moren Ncimiento New Upper Sn Lendro Newell North Fork Puddingstone Rector Creek Rollins Sn Antonio Sn Pblo Sly Creek Sly Prk Souljule Sugr Pine Tiger Creek Regultor Tulloch Wishon County Plums Tuolumne Np Inyo Contr Cost Almed Tuolumne Los Angeles Mder Sn Diego Fresno Snt Clr Sn Benito Lke Shst Plums Np Nevd Sn Diego Mono Sn Luis Obispo Mripos Sn Diego Sn Luis Obispo Almed Snt Cruz Snt Clr Los Angeles Np Nevd Monterey Contr Cost Butte El Dordo Mrin Plcer Amdor Clvers Fresno ns i r t n /d nt d tio s/g ete rs/ ge/ ent me r t o p e nc ns ep dim ui ge lv Ve V Co Se Se se Eq Vegettion growing in or ner spillwys or other vitl structures Problems with vlves, gtes nd other mechnisms tht relese or tke in wter, such s broken vlves or filure to open nd close gtes every three yers for the inspec tors Dmged concrete on spillwy chutes, the fce of the dm or other mjor structures Broken or ging monitoring sensors or overdue sensor dt High dm seepge, sediment buildup, or persistently plugged drins Old or corroded equipment tht should be replced or repired The Scrmento Bee s te
Metropolitn Wter District of Southern Cliforni Robert A. Skinner Dm in Riverside County hs hd repeted problems with vegettion in its spillwy. CRACKS, CLOGGED DRAINS, BROKEN VALVES AMONG LITANY OF PROBLEMS AT STATE S DAMS These re some of the problems tht hve gone uncorrected for yers t Cliforni dms in spite of being flgged repetedly by inspectors from the stte Deprtment of Wter Resources. The smple below is bsed on Scrmento Bee nlysis of five yers of inspection reports t the 93 dms singled out for further review by stte officils following the Februry crisis t Oroville Dm. All of the dms mentioned below re clssified s high hzrd by the stte becuse of their proximity to people living downstrem. NOBODY HOME AT NORTH FORK The inspector who showed up in September 2012 t tiny North Fork Dm, owned by the Pcheco Pss Wter District in Snt Clr County, could brely hide his frustrtion. None of the requested work from (the) lst inspection hs been performed t the dm, he wrote. Work involved removl of vegettion from the dm nd the spillwy. I gin requested the owner remove ll the brush from the downstrem nd upstrem fce of the dm nd from the left spillwy wll. The owner ssured me this work will be done. The shortcomings piled up, yer fter yer. In 2014 n inspector sid crcking hd left the spillwy s concrete surfce in poor to serviceble condition. At n August 2016 inspection, inspectors got to the root of the problem: The Pcheco Pss Wter District... does not hve functioning bord of directors nd mesures hve been tken to dissolve the District, n inspector wrote. Tht ppers to be chnging. After decde of inctivity, new bord ws elected lst December. Rob Bernosky, bord secretry, sid the flws cited repetedly by the inspectors ren t terribly egregious but re being ddressed. Pcheco Pss is lso evluting its long-term future, holding tlks with the much lrger Snt Clr Vlley Wter District bout possible tkeover. A FROZEN VALVE, AND A $30 MILLION HEADACHE As stte inspectors wtched, employees struggled to open one of the outlet vlves of Newell Dm, 11 miles north of Snt Cruz. It s tsk tht s supposed to be performed once every three yers in the presence of inspectors, to show the vlves re in good working order. The Aug. 23, 2012, demonstrtion didn t go so well. One of the vlves opened, but styed frozen in the hlf-open position, the inspectors wrote. It s still stuck. Eileen Cross, spokeswomn for the city s wter deprtment, sid Snt Cruz developed n cceptble workround tht got the stte s pprovl while the city figured out how to py for the project. It s like $30 million project, Cross sid. For us it s huge, huge project. Repirs re getting underwy soon, she sid. UNCONTROLLED RELEASE OF THE RESERVOIR OR NOT Lke Curry, locted in Np County nd owned by the city of Vllejo, hs been trouble spot for decdes. Since 199 the stte hs reduced the mximum of wter the reservoir cn store, by bout 8 percent, becuse of vrious deficiencies. For the pst three yers, the stte hs focused on corroded cst-iron pipe through which wter is relesed from the lke. Inspectors in 2014 sid the pipe vries from fir to poor condition, nd filure could result in uncontrolled relese of the reservoir. After 2016 inspection, they gin wrned bout the pipe s
deteriortion. City officils told the inspectors they were witing on funding for repirs, nd in June 2016 they submitted pln to fix the problem. Michel Mlone, director of Vllejo s wter deprtment, sid the work should be completed soon. He dded tht, despite the inspectors wrnings, the city s consultnt concluded tht the problem wsn t serious sfety concern fter ll. The public is not in dnger, he sid. GETTING THE VALVES TO WORK Every three yers, dm owners must demonstrte tht their vlves nd gtes cn open nd shut properly. When inspectors showed up in September 2014 t Rollins Dm, in the Nevd County foothills, expecting to get demonstrtion, n electric systems mlfunction kept the vlves from operting. During follow-up inspection three months lter, one vlve opened perfectly but the other got stuck fter opening two-thirds of the wy. A 201 inspection report sid the vlve could open 88 percent, fter hrdened grese hd been removed from the mechnism. In September 2016 the Nevd Irrigtion District told inspectors they were designing replcement prts for the vlve, which still cnnot be fully operted, ccording to the stte s report. Instlltion ws expected to be completed lst month. District officils didn t respond to requests for comment. AN APOLOGY, THEN ANOTHER HEADACHE Dve Merz, n employee of the Sn Benito County Wter District, hd simple sttement for the inspectors who visited Hernndez Dm in July 2013: Sorry. Inspectors hd told Merz the yer before to fix multiple problems t the dm: crcks on the spillwy, clogged drins nd more. Merz greed to mke the necessry repirs nd pologized for not completing the work since the lst inspection, inspectors wrote. The problems weren t clered up until the Mrch 2016 inspection. But tht sme inspection brought new problem to light: Attempting to demonstrte n outlet vlve for the inspectors, dm employee ws ble to open the mechnism but couldn t shut it bck up. The vlve remined locked in the open position until shortly before lst winter, sid generl mnger Jeff Cttneo. Cttneo sid the vlve, which wsn t sfety hzrd, would hve been repired sooner but the reservoir hd to be empty first. He sid keeping tbs on Hernndez is tough. Locted in remote prt of the county, Hernndez is miles from district hedqurters in Hollister. The dm hs no full-time employees; it s monitored remotely. It s not like we go down there every single dy, Cttneo sid. We go down there once or twice month to do inspections. SHRUBS IN THE SPILLWAY The Metropolitn Wter District of Southern Cliforni is $1.6 billion--yer behemoth with 19 million customers nd considerble swy over stte wter policy. But it s been rendered seemingly powerless by vegettion growing t its dm ner Temeculh in Riverside County. Inspectors who visited Robert A. Skinner Dm in April 2013 noted tht lrge shrub ws seen growing in the spillwy chnnel tht needs to be removed. A yer lter, inspectors wrned gin bout tree growing in the spillwy. By 201, it hd been removed, but in 2016 inspectors found new tree growing inside the outlet where wter is relesed. Lst April, inspectors sid the tree hdn t been removed. Also, trees were sprouting gin round the spillwy. Gordon Johnson, chief engineer t Metropolitn, sid the gency hsn t neglected the problem. Vegettion gets trimmed, it grows bck. We don t ter up concrete nd be invsive bout it. We control the vegettion, he sid. We contin the growth nd mintin it. WHERE ARE THE DATA? When dms re built, engineers often instll devices tht mesure wter pressure, movements within the dm cused by seismic ctivity, pressure chnges or nturl settling. Dm owners re supposed to report the dt nnully to stte inspectors. However, t lest five dm owners went multiple yers without reporting dt, despite repeted complints from inspectors. At Puddingstone nd Cogswell dms, both owned by Los Angeles County, inspectors sid the lst instrumenttion report they sw contined sensor dt t lest seven yers old. Foresthill Public Utilities District, owner of Sugr Pine Dm in Plcer County, ws told repetedly to develop pln for replcing its ging piezometers, which mesure wter pressure. When inspectors visited the dm in Mrch of this yer, five of the 16 piezometers were broken. One third of the piezometers t Gudlupe Dm, owned by Snt Clr Vlley Wter District, went unrepired for three consecutive yers. All but three of the originl 6 piezometers instlled t Oroville Dm in the 1960s hve stopped functioning, ccording to inspection reports. BLACKBERRY BUSHES AND A CLOGGED DRAIN When inspectors rrived in Jnury 2014 t Iron Cnyon Dm, hydroelectric fcility owned by Pcific Gs nd Electric Co. in Shst County, they found stnding wter in the spillwy chute. A likely culprit: clogged culvert. When they returned yer lter, they found the problem hdn t been fixed. The sme ws true in Jnury 2016 nd My 2017. PG&E dm sfety officil Eric Vn Deuren sid the culvert is locted fr from the dm nd doesn t impct nything sfety relted. The culprit: blckberry bushes tht get clered out but then pop up gin. You know how fst those grow bck, he sid.
RANDY PENCH rpench@scbee.com Owners of the Sugr Pine Dm nd Reservoir, ner the north fork of the Americn River north of Foresthill, hve been told repetedly to replce devices tht mesure wter pressure nd report tht dt to the stte. A 2017 inspection showed tht bout third of the dm s devices were broken. sidewlk in front of your house, sid Mrk Hutchinson, the county s deputy public works director. Spokeswomn Erin Mellon of the Deprtment of Wter Resources sid the Division of Sfety of Dms llows owners to postpone repirs if they ren t considered serious or urgent. Issues tht do not present n immedite dm sfety concern, nd re relted to routine mintennce, re given lower priority nd my pper in subsequent inspection reports, Mellon sid in n emil. TEETH IN THE SYSTEM The Bee s review of inspection reports, obtined through the Cliforni Public Records Act, found some problems went unddressed for yers. They rnged in scope from multimillion-dollr repirs to smll jobs tht could hve been delt with quickly by workers with hnd tools. At lest 10 dm owners were told repetedly to remove vegettion growing in or ner spillwys or other vitl structures. At lest 1 dm owners were told repetedly bout problems with vlves, gtes nd other mechnisms needed to relese or tke in wter. In some cses, dm owners took yers to repir or replce busted vlves. In others, dm owners filed to comply with requirement tht they open nd close the gtes nd vlves t lest once every three yers in the inspectors presence. At lest seven dm owners were told repetedly to repir dmged concrete, either on spillwy chutes, the fce of the dms or other mjor structures. At lest three dm owners were told repetedly to fix broken or ging sensors tht monitor wter pressure chnges, movements within the dm due to seismic ctivity, nd other importnt dt. At lest eight dm owners were told repetedly to submit overdue dt from those instruments. At lest eight dm owners were told repetedly to ddress unusully high dm seepge, unwnted sediment buildup or persistently plugged drins. At lest three dm owners were repetedly told to replce or repir old or corroded equipment. The documents could contin evidence of even more serious problems. It s impossible to know, becuse before giving them to The Scrmento Bee the stte blcked out lrge portions of inspectors findings, citing terrorist concerns. Dm experts sy the repet offenses show the stte hs to do better job of crcking down on dm owners whose fcilities don t mesure up. You ve obviously got n enforcement problem, sid J. Dvid Rogers, dm-sfety expert t Missouri University of Science nd Technology. The inspections re tking plce, but the mitigtion mesures, the upkeep nd mintennce there must not be very severe penlty for not doing the things.... There s got to be teeth in the system. Two stte legisltors who questioned stte officils t n Oroville Dm oversight hering in the spring sid they pln to tke ction in response to The Bee s findings. Stte Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Tehm, hs co-uthored pending bill tht would require more frequent nd thorough dm inspections. He sid he
now plns to mend the legisltion to force dm owners to del more quickly with issues cited by inspectors. There s got to be t lest more strict oversight of the yerly inspection reports nd the followup, sid Nielsen, whose district includes Oroville. Assemblymn Jim Frzier, D-Discovery By, lso clled for legisltive chnges. Frzier, former home builder nd concrete contrctor, sid the sorts of problems inspectors pointed out t dms would hve never been llowed to linger t construction job site. In the privte sector, if these were ignored, your job would get shut down or red tgged, he sid. SHRUBS AND THE SPILLWAY Mellon, the DWR spokeswomn, sid the Division of Sfety of Dms does hve n enforcement system nd uses it. Of the 1,249 dms it oversees, 39 re under reservoir restrictions tht force dm owners to reduce the mount of wter they cn store. Legisltion encted this yer, following the Oroville emergency, enbles DSOD to slp property liens on dm owners or fine them up to $1,000 dy if unsfe conditions re not corrected in resonble mnner, she sid. Lst yer the 70-employee dm-sfety division ws given top mrks by tem of independent engineers. A review, performed by the Assocition of Stte Dm Sfety Officils, concluded tht Cliforni opertes the leding dm sfety progrm in the ntion. When told of The Bee s findings, Willim Binghm, who led the review, sid he wsn t surprised. Even strong dm-sfety gencies like Cliforni s hve trouble getting dm owners to correct problems quickly. Cliforni is probbly getting more done thn most other sttes, sid Binghm, dm consultnt in Pennsylvni. Even so, the frntic crisis lst winter t Oroville suggests the stte s efforts don t go fr enough. A decde s worth of inspection reports t Oroville showed tht dm workers removed vegettion cited in stte inspection reports, only to llow it to grow bck. Inspectors found trees nd brush growing longside the spillwy in 2011 nd 2013. A photo ccompnying the Februry 201 inspection report shows tree limbs dngling over the spillwy, in the vicinity of where it crcked two yers lter. Inspectors noted tht the tree ws removed by the time midyer inspection ws done few months lter. A Jnury 2017 photo by the Chico Enterprise-Record shows vegettion strting to grow bck in roughly the sme plce, month before the Oroville crisis. A deep chsm opened up in the spillwy Feb. 7. A tem of forensic investigtors hs sid tree roots likely clogged the spillwy s dringe system, cusing wter to collect underneth the spillwy chute. The wter my hve creted upwrd pressure on one of the concrete slbs, ultimtely cusing it to fil, the forensic tem hs sid. Robert Be, dm-sfety expert t UC Berkeley, sid he thinks the stte took fr too long to remove trees nd brush. By the time they were chopped down, the roots were lredy growing underneth the concrete chute nd clogging the drins, he sid. Mount, of the Public Policy Institute of Cliforni, sid Oroville s lesson is cler. It might be rusted fcility, Mount sid. It might be vlve which is not operble.... It s not like one big thing, one glring thing, tht cuses the problems. It s the ccumultive little things, which increses the probbility tht one of those little things will be the wek link nd then the system fils. Ryn Sblow: 916-321-1264, @rynsblow