Folsom Dam

Workers Monday began to plug a huge hole in Folsom Dam where a spillway gate buckled last month. Nearly half the reservoir's water has spilled into the American River since the July 17 break, and the water level has dropped nearly to the level of the damaged gate. Repair crews used a crane to lower steel panels across the opening on the reservoir side of the dam. The hole may not be fully plugged until today. Three panels are being used, each 50 feet wide, eight feet tall and two feet thick.

War can come home in many ways. For this bustling little city, it hits each morning and evening with a traffic jam. Commuters used to avoid the narrow, Gold Rush-era streets of the city's historic downtown by steering onto a two-lane shortcut atop Folsom Dam's massive concrete cap. But a few weeks before the war in Iraq, federal officials shut down the dam's old road, sending 18,000 extra motorists each day onto Folsom's aging streets.

A huge gate at Folsom Dam broke open Monday, spilling enough water each second to supply a family of five for a year. The break forced evacuation of boaters, hikers and anglers along the American River, but posed no immediate danger to communities downstream. Dam operators said they may not be able to stop the water roaring out of the broken gate for up to a week, until the water level drops 40 feet to the top of the spillway.

Rising in the Sierra Nevada west of Lake Tahoe, the American River is barely 100 miles long but is one of the nation's most historic. John Marshall's discovery in the south fork at Coloma in 1848 touched off the famed Gold Rush. Gold financed the building of Sacramento, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers. Today, the American is one of the most popular rivers for white-water rafting in the United States.

Sacramento can't be fully protected from the threat of a major flood without another dam on the American River, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. "The only way we can identify is additional (water) storage space on the American River above Folsom Dam," said Joe Countryman, chief of the civil design branch of the Corps' Sacramento office, in testimony before the state Reclamation Board.

The failure of a gate at Folsom Dam is a sign that California's largest water system is starting to crumble because of federal neglect, water customers said. One of eight gates at the 40-year-old dam gave way as it was being raised Monday, and water from the filled reservoir gushed through the opening at 40,000 cubic feet per second. Water continued to pour through the opening Tuesday, and was not expected to stop until about 40% of the reservoir was drained later this week.

War can come home in many ways. For this bustling little city, it hits each morning and evening with a traffic jam. Commuters used to avoid the narrow, Gold Rush-era streets of the city's historic downtown by steering onto a two-lane shortcut atop Folsom Dam's massive concrete cap. But a few weeks before the war in Iraq, federal officials shut down the dam's old road, sending 18,000 extra motorists each day onto Folsom's aging streets.

In the old days of California water policy, an important article of faith was that any dam was better than no dam at all. Egged on by some members of Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to revive that spirit with plans for a new dam in the Sierra foothills northeast of Sacramento, near the town of Auburn. This would not be the massive, $3-billion Auburn plan that the corps abandoned some years ago. It would be a more modest flood-control model costing something less than $1 billion.

Rising in the Sierra Nevada west of Lake Tahoe, the American River is barely 100 miles long but is one of the nation's most historic. John Marshall's discovery in the south fork at Coloma in 1848 touched off the famed Gold Rush. Gold financed the building of Sacramento, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers. Today, the American is one of the most popular rivers for white-water rafting in the United States.

Developers and environmentalists are digging in along the American River near Sacramento for yet another "High Noon" in California's endless water squabbles. This time it isn't the usual North-South row, with Northern Californians fighting transfer of water to the thirsty South. It's Northerners against Northerners in the Sacramento area. They all agree that Sacramento lives under the danger of a devastating flood. They all agree something must be done. What they don't agree on is what to do.

Workers Monday began to plug a huge hole in Folsom Dam where a spillway gate buckled last month. Nearly half the reservoir's water has spilled into the American River since the July 17 break, and the water level has dropped nearly to the level of the damaged gate. Repair crews used a crane to lower steel panels across the opening on the reservoir side of the dam. The hole may not be fully plugged until today. Three panels are being used, each 50 feet wide, eight feet tall and two feet thick.

The day, Ed Taylor would recall, started "fairly normally." Taylor is a senior operator at the Folsom Dam, which sits on the American River, east of Sacramento. Now, the day-to-day operation of a mammoth dam can have its moments, but generally the pace does not match, say, that of an air traffic control tower. Dams are passive objects. They sit there and hold back water. The challenge is in building them. After that, they can all but operate themselves.

Boaters and other water enthusiasts returned to Folsom Lake on Sunday, about a week after a dam gate gave way, lowering the lake about 25 feet. "It's definitely nice for us to get back into business. It's nice to have the water back," said Ken Christensen, manager at the lake's marina. With sailboaters, swimmers, anglers and skiers back on water, the only noticeable difference was that some sandy beaches were lost, Christensen said.

The federal government did not act on inspectors' warnings that Folsom Dam spillway gates needed work, but officials said Thursday that they do not believe neglect of maintenance caused a gate failure. One of eight steel spillway gates buckled Monday as it was being opened at the 40-year-old dam, dumping what will amount to about 400,000 acre-feet of water--or nearly half the lake--into the American River.

The failure of a gate at Folsom Dam is a sign that California's largest water system is starting to crumble because of federal neglect, water customers said. One of eight gates at the 40-year-old dam gave way as it was being raised Monday, and water from the filled reservoir gushed through the opening at 40,000 cubic feet per second. Water continued to pour through the opening Tuesday, and was not expected to stop until about 40% of the reservoir was drained later this week.

A huge gate at Folsom Dam broke open Monday, spilling enough water each second to supply a family of five for a year. The break forced evacuation of boaters, hikers and anglers along the American River, but posed no immediate danger to communities downstream. Dam operators said they may not be able to stop the water roaring out of the broken gate for up to a week, until the water level drops 40 feet to the top of the spillway.

The federal government did not act on inspectors' warnings that Folsom Dam spillway gates needed work, but officials said Thursday that they do not believe neglect of maintenance caused a gate failure. One of eight steel spillway gates buckled Monday as it was being opened at the 40-year-old dam, dumping what will amount to about 400,000 acre-feet of water--or nearly half the lake--into the American River.

In the old days of California water policy, an important article of faith was that any dam was better than no dam at all. Egged on by some members of Congress, the Army Corps of Engineers is trying to revive that spirit with plans for a new dam in the Sierra foothills northeast of Sacramento, near the town of Auburn. This would not be the massive, $3-billion Auburn plan that the corps abandoned some years ago. It would be a more modest flood-control model costing something less than $1 billion.

Developers and environmentalists are digging in along the American River near Sacramento for yet another "High Noon" in California's endless water squabbles. This time it isn't the usual North-South row, with Northern Californians fighting transfer of water to the thirsty South. It's Northerners against Northerners in the Sacramento area. They all agree that Sacramento lives under the danger of a devastating flood. They all agree something must be done. What they don't agree on is what to do.