by Bob Walsh
The legislature of the formerly great state of California has just passed a bill to the governor's desk that, if signed into law, will require that dams actually be inspected on a regular basis, which is not now the case. In addition some high-risk dams, like the Oroville Dam, would require yearly safety examinations. Some of these safety inspections would use outside experts rather than DWR hacks. Also, these inspection reports would by law be public record.
Considering the number of dams in the state and the dubious condition of some of them I can not honestly say that this is locking the barn door after the horse has left. The cost for these inspections will be paid by rate payers for the water stored by the dams. A fair number of dams in CA are federal dams and not subject to state law, but this is way better than nothing.
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