Thread: Oroville Dam
View Single Post
red-beard red-beard is offline
canna change law physics
 
red-beard's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: Houston, Tejas
Posts: 43,432
Garage
Quote:
Originally Posted by ossiblue View Post
Not exactly. The concrete spillway is the only controlled spillway. The emergency spillway is, as mentioned, to the left. It's referred to as the emergency spillway because it comes into play only when the level of the lake is unable to be lowered by the concrete spillway and the discharge at bottom of the dam. It functions because the rim is lower than the top of the dam and water is released with no human intervention. In short, in an emergency, the lake overflows beginning at the emergency spillway instead of the dam itself.
OK, I see it now. It is very hard to see with the aerial photos that the area in question is anything other than a concrete wall.

It seems most of these dams are not being kept up. The dam/levees in the area around here are also at risk and they were concerned about a breech last year, when the level was the highest it had ever been.

They say our issue is over development. But our red-clay ground is not porous. It was simply a HUGE rain event.
__________________
James
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the engineer adjusts the sails.- William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)
Red-beard for President, 2020
Old 02-13-2017, 08:20 AM
  Pelican Parts Catalog | Tech Articles | Promos & Specials    Reply With Quote #38 (permalink)