California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
With a November 1 deadline to complete major work and placement of all concrete on the main Lake Oroville Spillway, construction crews are continuing foundation cleaning and the placement of dental and leveling concrete to prepare for placement of structural concrete walls and slabs on the 730 feet of the upper chute. However, crews have completed the removal and replacement of the top layer of a structural concrete slab placed on the main spillway last year that did not meet the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) quality control standards due to a poor surface finish.
Also now compete, is the slab anchor drilling on the middle chute. Crews began placement of structural concrete slabs on June 26. Additionally, the hydro-blasting of the energy dissipaters, or dentates, at the bottom of the main spillway is now complete. Mechanical demolition will continue to prepare for a new layer of structural concrete anchored with epoxy-coated steel dowels.
Additional work on the main spillway — including dry finishing and curing of concrete, joint sealing, connecting drainage systems, backfilling side walls, and site clean-up — will continue after November 1.
Although work on the Emergency Spillway is not dependent on the November 1 deadline construction crews have completed the construction of the northern half of the roller-compacted concrete (RCC) splashpad. Foundation preparation in advance of RCC placement at the southern half of the splashpad site continues.
Recreational activities at certain sites around Lake Oroville continue to be open to the public. The Thermalito Diversion Pool and Burma Road and Brad Freeman Trail on the northern shore of the diversion pool have re-opened to the public through Wednesday, July 4 for hiking, biking, fishing, kayaking and other activities. Visitors can access the area off Thompson Flat Cemetery Road. DWR and the California State Parks have re-opened a portion of the Dan Beebe Trail between Glen Pond and Canyon Drive. Visitors will have access to over three miles of trails which run along the southern shore of the Diversion Pool.
The free access program for day use and boat launching at the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area continues on Thursday and Friday, July 5 and 6. The remaining free access days are Thursdays and Fridays, August 2-3 and September 6-7. The construction to repair and rebuild Lake Oroville’s spillways has affected access to various recreational facilities near the Lake Oroville spillways. To promote the available expanse of outdoor activities and encourage visitation between May and September, DWR and California State Parks created a free-access program for all visitors to the region on specific days.
The Department of Water Resources is investing more than $30 million to build new boat ramp lanes, extend existing lanes for low-level water access, and add additional parking and new site amenities at recreation sites across Lake Oroville while construction continues on the spillways. For more information on these recreation improvement projects, visit DWR’s Lake Oroville recreation improvements page at: https://www.water.ca.gov/What-We-Do/Recreation/Lakes-And-Reservoirs/Lake-Oroville-Rec-Improvements.
