"Stoner Logic" at Oroville Dam Spillway -

AENN

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has begun new construction of a road at the base of the spillway below the dentates or dragon’s teeth water energy dissipaters.

The new construction puts a stop to further use of the main spillway for the season. Construction began Thursday June 6, 2019 when excavators and heavy equipment began removing a large portion of the bottom of the spillway.

The bottom of the spillway has a ledge that will be put into use as a raod for heavy equipment. When the decision to open the spillway this year the access road at the riverside was removed. The ledge can be restructured to support anticipated further use as a road to help complete the rebuilding of the spillway. In the picture below the lower ledge of the spillway can be seen.

Left to right) Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea, Lt. Derek Bell with the Butte County Sheriff’s Office, and Joel Ledesma, Deputy Director, State Water Project for the California Department of Water Resources, inspect the Lake Oroville main spillway just below the four energy dissipator blocks during a tour at the Butte County, California site. Photo taken May 10, 2019.

Energy dissipaters at the base of the Oroville main spillway. Water drains under the deck of the spillway.

There has been no formal announcement by the DWR. To be sure the sight of new construction on the lower spillway stands in direct contradiction of the last two community updates issued May, 31, 2019 and June 7, 2019 in which the DMR gave public reassurances.

“DWR has taken steps to prepare for potential use of the spillway”‘.

The logic of the DWR is hard to follow as they have been prone to give information to the public which at times appears to more like disinformation than real fact base information in the public interest.