Officials in charge of Lake Oroville said the crippled spillway will be repaired or replaced and ready for next winter.
In an era when major construction jobs are best known for cost overruns and blown deadlines, Bill Croyle, acting director of the California Department of Water Resources, made a bold vow Monday.
“We will, if I have anything to do about it, we’ll have a spillway to use by Nov. 1” Croyle said. “Whether that is a permanent or a temporary structure is yet to be decided.”
Croyle said that partially completed designs will be finished and released to the public Friday or early next week. A rock crusher is already on site and a concrete batch plant is being acquired, Croyle said.
Officials are currently studying the makeup and stability of rock formations at various sites, intending to assure repairs or a replacement spillway are built at the optimal location.
The statement comes just days after a report prepared at the behest of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, warned that California would face significant risks if another rainy season started without a fully functioning spillway.
That report deemed a redesign or reconstruction of the failed emergency spillway as ‘absolutely critical,’ and questioned the structural integrity of what remains of the main spillway.
Croyle said DWR was conferring with federal officials, the governor and water contractors. Irrigation districts that depend on water from Lake Oroville are partially responsible for its upkeep, but have been reluctant to fund upgrades in the past.
Correction (3/28, 12:34 p.m.): A previous version of this story misidentified the name of the acting director of the California Department of Water Resources. His name is Bill Croyle, not Michael Croyle.
