Brown to redirect millions for flood-control measures at dams

While California’s dam safety program is considered the strongest in the country, recent storms and the failure of spillways at the Oroville Dam have prompted officials to look more closely at the state’s aging infrastructure.

The state has nearly $50 billion in unmet flood-management infrastructure spending, which could include everything from levee and dam maintenance to preparing for potential sea level rise.

Brown said he would work with the Legislature on solutions, including potential changes to Proposition 218, which requires voter approval of increases in local taxes, assessments and some user fees.

Brown also announced plans to require all state-regulated dam owners to develop so-called Emergency Action Plans, which include maps of areas expected to be inundated by flooding, procedures for warning downstream residents and other information crucial to reducing potential death and destruction following a breach.

A 2016 report by the Association of State Dam Safety Officials found that while California had the leading dam safety program in the country, internal emergency response procedures were out of date, and many staff members were “unaware of their specific responsibilities during and following an event.”

The governor also pledged to improve dam inspections, directing the California Natural Resources Agency to conduct more detailed evaluations of secondary structures such as spillways, and to include geologic assessment and hydrological modeling in their examinations.

“The event at Oroville, as well as others in the recent past, should give us pause,” said Martin McCann of Stanford’s National Performance of Dams Program, a research group dedicated to dam operations, safety and public policy.

Along with enhancing dam inspections and emergency preparedness, Brown discussed widespread damage that strong storms have caused to California’s roads and bridges.