By Bob Walsh
The New Bullard Bar Dam holds back a modest size
reservoir near Dobbins in Yuba County, CA. The reservoir feeds a five
mile tunnel that feeds a one mile long penstock (large diameter pipe)
that feeds water into the New Colgate Power House, operated by the Yuba
Water Agency.
The tunnel,
penstock and related equipment were supposed to be getting some
upgrades. The work was in progress. Friday afternoon the penstock
physically failed at the very top of it's run where it connects to the
tunnel. The failure allowed a significant amount of water to escape and
flow rapidly down hill. Mostly it followed the path of the penstock.
The running water badly damaged the supports for the penstock, which
resulted in more damage to the penstock. The water then badly damaged
the various structures around the power house necessary for power
transmission. It also took out the sole road to the power house. One
person was injured and had to be taken out by helicopter. They also had
to evacuate the uninjured staff from the area by air as the other
possibilities were clearly unusable.
The loss of the power plant resulted in a power outage for a large chunk of Yuba and Sutter Counties.
Right
now it isn't really clear if the power plant itself was damaged or just
the transmission towers and other equipment. You could tell from the
aerial news helicopter feed that the visible damage was significant.
This
was not an old, decrepit bunch of equipment and was in the process of
being further upgraded for increased reliability. One would think that
this sort of thing would not happen. It appears that one would be wrong
for so thinking.
Whooopps.
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