by The Associated Press

December 8, 2017

The owners of some of California’s most critical dams have allowed problems identified in annual inspection reports to linger for years, a newspaper reported Friday.

Unrepaired deficiencies include cracked concrete, rusted equipment, broken sensors, and frozen valves and gates, according to a Sacramento Bee investigation.

State officials said the problems are not imminent safety threats. And dam owners said it’s best to methodically research problems and design repairs if there’s no emergency.

But experts said seemingly small problems can add up and eventually cause a crisis.

Outside investigators looking into the cause of a catastrophic crater in the spillway at Oroville Dam this year say a drainage system clogged by tree roots likely contributed.

The problem set off a cascading series of events that eventually led to the evacuation of nearly 200,000 people amid fears that uncontrolled flooding would swamp communities downstream, though the crisis was averted.

The newspaper published its report the same week residents near Oroville Dam told state water officials that they can’t be trusted when they say small cracks in the rebuilt Oroville spillway are not a safety risk.

Read more at ABC News