Dam Safety is Top Priority in California
May 31 marks National Dam Safety Awareness Day, established after the South Fork Dam failure of 1889 took the lives of 2,200 Pennsylvanians. The threat of dam failure persisted into the early 20th century for Californians, when the St. Francis Dam, located just north...
Dollars and Dams: Building Safety into California’s Future
The near-failure of Oroville Dam on February 7, 2017 was a major wake-up call regarding the risks posed by dams in California and nationwide. The January 5, 2023 spillway failure of the North Fork Dam on Pacheco Creek is an unfortunate sign that California has much...Two years after Midland dam failures, still no action on safety reforms
As another Lansing session draws to a close, dam safety reform bills have yet to get a hearing.
Lawmakers say the reforms remain a priority, but advocates fear the delays put more communities at risk.
Experts say the state’s flood control laws are too weak and dams are growing dangerously old.
The Coming California Megastorm
California, where earthquakes, droughts and wildfires have shaped life for generations, also faces the growing threat of another kind of calamity, one whose fury would be felt across the entire state.
This one will come from the sky.