Two dams owned by Monterey County that were found to have structural problems will get repairs and new fish screens after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget bill designating $17 million for the projects.
The appropriations bill, Senate Bill 104, will fund work at dams at Lake San Antonio in southern Monterey County and Lake Nacimiento, which is in northern San Luis Obispo County but is owned and operated by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.
The dams were found to have safety issues during statewide inspections that were initiated after the partial failure of the Oroville Dam in Butte County in 2017. The dam sustained damage to its spillway, which is a channel for discharging water from the reservoir above. An emergency spillway also failed, leading to the evacuation of about 180,000 nearby residents.
A 2019 report from GEI Consultants Inc., a private consultant hired by Monterey County, detailed multiple issues at the dams that were created by deferred maintenance and staff turnover. The report was not publicly released because of anti-terrorism regulations that protect details of certain infrastructure.
Nacimiento Dam was constructed in 1957. San Antonio Dam was built in 1967.
The money will be used to design and prepare a new spillway at San Antonio Dam over the next two years and rehabilitate the plunge pool at Nacimiento, which is a depression or hole at the bottom of a spillway that allows extra room for water to fall. That work is expected to take four years to complete.
In a statement, the county’s water resource agency general manager, Ara Azhderian, celebrated the announcement.
“Governor Newsom’s approval of SB 104 is a much appreciated acknowledgement of the importance of these dams and of the people who rely upon them for the flood protection, water supply, and drought resiliency they provide,” the statement said.
The funding will also be used to install fish screens in the underwater tunnel between the two reservoirs that prevent fish from being sucked into the tunnel during water transfers.