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You should look at the dam from maps or satellite. The spillway is off to the side, away from the dam (clearly, by design), and the emergency spillway is on the
by Tloewald 10y ago
You should look at the dam from maps or satellite. The spillway is off to the side, away from the dam (clearly, by design), and the emergency spillway is on the far side of the main spillway from the dam, so while the spillway failing would be terrible it should not damage the dam itself.
- lisper 10y agoLooks like you're right. I read somewhere that the spillway was part of the dam structure, but now I can't find that reference any more, so I guess I must have misread it. However, my original comment was still substantially correct. See http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article132356269.html http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article132356269.html "It’s not going to be the (main) embankment failure, but it’s a failure. If it does happen, there’s nothing saying that the ground is going to stay where it is. That force of water will start tearing that hill apart, and it could eat back into the reservoir and drain the reservoir.