Thanks Juan . They pump water over the hill from San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos into the system . San Luis is off sight storage which is pumped into it from the aqueduct coming out of the delta which gets it's water from Shasta . You can get Lake Shasta water from the tap in Los Angeles , over 500 miles away .
I maintained flood control pump stations for years. The public has no idea how much rubbish and debris are thrown into flood control or storm water discharge structures. I've pulled washers, dryers, ranges, and cars out of discharge channels. It's not just the homeless who are causing problems. It's every person who backs a pickup truck to those ditches and dumps their old appliances. For goodness sake people, DON'T DUMP JUNK where it doesn't belong!
Is that still common with recycling paying lot more I found all the old cars left in the deserts got taken away for scrap. All I see now guys picking up junk I ran into guy taking an old worn out leather office chair I put out for bulk pickup. I asked him how he recycles it mostly foam he said the place takes anything he gets like $5 for that chair. He was telling me old days they didn't take stuff wasn't clean metal now all different they take anything has metal on it.
I have a pond and the road in front of my place has a colvert. Everytime it rains I get people who throw their trash out the windows clogging up the inlet to the pond. So far no cars, washers, dryers but plastic bottles, beer cans is just as bad
Agreed with illegal dumping. A local group in SutterCounty/ Yuba City area ... meets once a month to scout out and pick up items dumped . The amount of material they pick up is staggering.
Whiny voice " But that costs money!" In my area it's free at county and city trash collection areas with a copy of a water bill.🙄 Salvage yards buy scrap metals at decent prices. Not just dumping either. Some burn trash at their properties while we are under a burn ban due to drought🌵 And these are the same people who squeal the loudest when they get caught and fined and blame every one ( the poor people, the government, etc) BUT themselves when a fire gets out of control or there is flooding due to stopped up drainage.
Thank you for bringing attention to the situation with Anderson dam. The mismanagement and lack of action to repair this dam is criminally negligent. The Santa Clara Valley water district has drained Lake Anderson before and did not update or fix the issues. Not a surprise that the State of California ignores this infrastructure.
Excellent practical demonstration of P and S waves. Well done. I too have seen the sine waves during the Whittier quake of 10/1/97 (day before my daughter was born). Was operating a truck on a chassis dyno when the quake hit and could see the waves passing through the parked trucks in front of me. They were rolling toward/away from each other in waves. Quite unforgettable!
I live in San Jose and well remember the 2017 flooding with all the homeless camps clogging up the creek, and the rescue efforts that were then necessary. I'm glad that FERC is lighting a fire under the local authorities to get this taken care of.
It's the same problem all over. The same people calling for plastic bag and drinking straw bans don't say a peep when the homeless turn all the bridges over Walnut Creek into garbage dumps, which in turn get swept into the bay every high water event.
@@LardGreystoke the drinking straw ban was driven largely by the ocean plastic disaster (which was famously personalized by the turtle with the straw stuck in its nose). The homeless discard untold tons of trash, much it plastic, which gets swept away to the sea. There is no appetite to do much about the latter, while the former was swiftly addressed by legislation.
@A Tangerine thanks for impugning my motives. Very mature and charitable of you. There is plenty of appetite to tax and spend more on homeless. There is zero appetite to actually address the addiction, crime, and mess of homelessness with any kind of tough love. Which is why it only gets worse.
Juan, Thank you for that very informative video! As a non-Californian I knew nothing about the Anderson Dam and the issues related to it. Thank you for educating me and explaning the issues. Although I live in MA I am somewhat familiar with the overall water issues in the west having read Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert in the 1980s. God Bless Paul (in MA)
My old stompin' grounds. You are 100% spot on again Juan! When this was built there was very little except farms in the flood plain area. Now it's million dollar homes(a 1960's 1800 sq foot ranch is a million plus these days) and High Tech Office Buildings & Factories all the way to the Bay along Coyote Creek. When I recall how much we paid for water in San Jose before we moved out of California, it was beyond crazy over what we pay now. Sure it's even more expensive now just like PG&E
@A Tangerine I'd agree with you to a point. In the last drought in 2013-2015, we conserved to about 40% less than average and then noticed our rates still went up because San Jose Water was not making as much money because folks were conserving too well! I also noticed that government lawns at building and schools continued to stay nice and green....so even if they paid more who paid for that? The taxpayers.
Rates in SoCal have gone off the chart. The Public Utilities Commission approves EVERY rate increase demanded by PG&E. They have NO incentive to lower rates. Our household of 2 retired women has had bills as high as $300/month for WATER ALONE. (yes we have had our lines checked for leakage.) Mom and I are careful about usage & own water conserving appliances. Our garden is on timed watering, drought resistant plants, etc. It has become quite a burden to pay for basic utilities. This is San Diego, in case you're wondering.
@A Tangerine Don't be silly. The Environment gets over 50%, farms take up 47%, and consumers get around 3% of all the water diverted (approximate figures). So if you want to save water its either cut back the water going to the Environment or farmers, not golf courses or even households.
Once again I'm impressed with the clarity of Juan's reports and the easy but spot-on explanations. Considering that this is not Browne's main job makes me wonder what the implications would be if he did this full time. Thanks, Juan, for dedicating your time to help us understand better!
Most of these reservoirs are built many years ago Federal Government and states. They leave building permits up to the local counties, and cites. The locals are easily controlled by money only takes about a million dollars to get something passed, or someone elected so most local politicians just give in to home builders. Tract homes are highly profitable if you ever owned a tract home see how poor the construction is all illegal immigrants who do the work though low bid sub contractors. I have found even the owners of those subs are illegal too.
Dividend Homes built most of the houses below the the dam, along with a couple other developers. They pushed pretty hard. Basically to make money at any cost.
I see one problem reading the Dam's description - 1 acre-foot of water (325851 gallons) sufficient for 2 families of 5 for a year! Out here in Texas where we live the base rate starts at 2000 gallon per month! Cost goes up from there! Also curious - what about the upstream dam at Coyote Lake? It looks to be the same type of construction!
I have a childhood friend who now lives in a trailer park next to Coyote Creek. Back in '17 he was livid about the squatters (Homeless) and all their stuff messing up the creek. Ever since then he has gotten more vocal about it each time I talk with him as the situation gets worse and worse. Can't the authorities keep them out of water control areas. Put them where their stuff won't affect high water. sdh in CT
Local authorities from Morgan Hill to San Jose and Santa Clara County are more concerned with running "sanctuary cities" and a "sanctuary county" than doing what should be done. Vote 'em all out at the next election and replace them with _sane_ candidates.
@@delukxy as it should have been done and could once again if only for the limited hydroelectric power it generates. But, when these things were built we were not concerned about the future power needs or environmental damage so the attitude was "damn the fishes and damn the torpedos, full steam ahead"
I just retired after 45+ years as a Hydro Operator. FERC is often toothless. In 2015, I had a spillgate stick full open during required testing, had to smack it with a large track hoe to get it to lower. The words “uncontrolled release” went into a report to FERC, yet that gate still has not been repaired. BTW that dam is 90 years old.
Thanks Juan... Very good explanation. Not a native of California, but lived in the Bay Area for 21 years and was a first responder after the Loma Prieta quake. This is what happens when you don't have competition, whether in business or government..... Things get ignored for the 'sexy'current issue de jeur.... Until the you know what it's the you know what.... Then the finger pointing starts and, unlike in aviation, the guilty never get the bill!
Juan, you're the man my friend. I started following you and the reports you were posting during the Oroville Dam near disaster in 2017. Your daily reporting was excellent, many ways out classing the local guys hands down. When you took to aerial reporting I recall thinking how cool. At the time I was unaware of your aviation background and the love and respect you have for it. I have enjoyed all of your videos and get a kick out the ones with your junior staff members. You're a good man Mr. Blancolirio, thank you for keeping me better informed.
If you watch the potential flooding simulation at the start of the video you'll discover that it's not just homes directly below the dam that are in danger. If the dam goes, half the city of San Jose would be flooded, including the downtown and the airport. Furthermore, flooding would also occur south as much as 40 miles away to Monterey Bay, taking out significant portions of the city of Santa Cruz. Since the city of San Jose was there first (founded 1750), the real question is why was the dam allowed to be built where it could flood the city? The reason of course, is that the creek with no dam also had potential to flood the city! Dams in California are typically multi-use. In this case Anderson Dam provides drinking water to the water district, it provides flood control, it provides steady, controlled aquatic habitat to the Coyote Creek watershed and it offers recreational uses.
@@dlwatib Santa Cruz is at the Northern edge of Monterey Bay and would be missed entirely if the damn failed based on the Valley Water video. Watsonville though has a comparable population and looks like it'd take a direct hit to me. Gilroy also has 50+k people in it and would be hit bad. A part of the problem as I recall years ago, is that as our understanding of the geology around there increased over time, so did the estimated chances of a sufficiently large earthquake close to the damn increased. Combine that with the damn not being as sound as originally thought and it's a recipe for trouble.
That would be so the powers that be have their palms greased, who in turn wet the hand of the powers that don’t be, who in turn spit in the palms of those who tie the steel and dump the rock. Too bad none of them will be alive if it fails.
Thanks for explaining this in a way that even a dam engineer or a county water commissioner can understand. Maybe if Pete built a clay sculpture of the dam they might be able to grasp it. As an arts administrator and teacher it’s great to see your STEAM shirt.
Interesting earthquake demonstration - brought me back to my college science class where we covered that subject but not like you did - if I had that visual then it would have been easier to remember the difference between the waves.👍
Grew up in California. Lived through the 72 earthquake in southern California and the resulting evacuation of the Van Norman Reservoir. Then again in what? 89? And then 94? And NEVER, Juan, has anyone explained it all so well! You should be a geology prof! :-)
You do mean the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, don't you? That quake occurred February 9 1971. The Van Norman dam was damaged, but did not fail completely, fortunately, and there was no flooding. It was quickly drained, though, and has never been refilled.
@Angela G "Lived through the 72 earthquake in southern California and the resulting evacuation of the Van Norman Reservoir." Sounds to me like Sylmar earthquake of 1971. There was no major earthquake in CA in 1972.
@Angela G Yea, he just got the date wrong by 1 year; I was just teasing about that. We had a big one in Southern California last summer. I happened to drive by the epicenter just hours before it happened. I was all the way to LA when it struck. Lamps were swinging, and trees were shaking, even 100 miles away from the center!
Juan, I thought that water eating away under the dam was also not good. It weakens the dam from the bottom up. Knock out the foundation and the dam falls. This is evident when water is seeping through the dam on the outflow side.
Housing developers buy the land, local governments approve residential zoning for the land, insurers cover the developers, construction firms bid, realtors sell. All of these people have the ability to say no, but none of them do. Humans are very short-sighted and not especially intelligent. Cheers, Alan Tomlinson
Thank God I live in Western Massachusetts, the Berkshires. No big earthquakes, no raging forest fires and plenty of rain. Lately starting to appreciate were we live, more and more, after all that's happening in other parts of the world. Great coverage Juan.
As a former resident of La Mesa, CA I don't miss those 6:oo AM earthquakes ( keep those to yourself, L.A. ), not to mention the vibration we felt during the great Alaska earthquake of Good Friday, 1964. As a firefighter/EMT here in Minnesota my sense of disaster preparation was sharpened considerably during my California days. Thanks for the info, Juan.
Quit flying. Start a new career. you would make a great journalist. I always watch your reports, even though i could care less about the subject. One of the most trivial things i have seen lately, but so important for the infrastructure issue; was the picture you showed on a video about the broken electric wire supports..it was a powerful sight, to find a worn, metal clamp under the electric tower..you showed that..nobody else has.. very good attention to a critical detail.
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Wait until he reveals that it is him playing all of the background guitar licks. Everyone is going to go.....whoooa! :O
Juan, you show an dam inundation animation for the Anderson Dam during the intro to this video. Can you please post a link? I live downstream and my home would become submerged I believe for a few hours if Anderson Dam were to fail catastrophically.
You are an incredible journalist probably the best ever. You can take a topic and make it so interesting and i especially appreciate the facts that you present and obviously have researched. Keep up the great work. You ever thought about running for President. You obviously have an incredible ability to learn whatever it is your interested in and then a personality that is easy to learn from an incredible teacher.
Juan, Why not build a new dam slightly downstream from the original one? This way they could continue to allow controlled releases through the new dams bypass tunnels. There would be no need to deplete the original dams water levels until the new dams construction was completed.
Thank You Juan! Once again, lack of maintenance and Environmental politics thwart the necessary improvements of our California water system. As always, Thank you Juan for your informative reporting. Oroville,2. Can you post a link for support $$.Ron C.
Juan you need to be teaching you are beyond an expert. Thanks for the mention of the aging water infrastructure across the nation and answering my questions the other day. Currently at my final draft of proposal, I’m get back with you when my draft clears peer review.
Juan, I started watching you to learn what was happening with the 737 MAX and have picked up some great aviation information. But this story is fascinating. I graduated from high school in San Jose 50 years ago. I used Google earth to measure the distance from Anderson dam to my old house and it is 40.1 miles downstream. It’s hard to make out from the video but I think it would be under water based on the worst case scenario. It is currently priced at $1.6 m (it was around $40k when my parents bought it). We used to drive to the beach on the back roads through Watsonville. There are several other reservoirs in that area. And at the time we considered them in the middle of nowhere. Not a sole was living anywhere near them.
Great video. I'm sending it to my oldest brother Jerry, who lives in Redding, Ca. He predicts earthquakes and is a part of Project Migraine of USGS. I went to Woodrow Wilson Jr High (1 semester) in San Jose back in the 60's and experienced a couple of good earthquakes. Raised in SW Kansas I experienced several up close and personal tornadoes! I'll take an earthquake anytime! Hope you get back to flying soon!
Greetings from Central Washington, the land of $.023 kwh power courtesy of the big dams on the mighty Columbia River. The dam I work at, Wells Dam, has a large concrete powerhouse in the middle, but earth embankments at each end. The Feds are pushing for a $500M repair/replacement of the east embankment for similar reasons to Anderson Dam. Rates will be going up a bit to help pay for it.
Mr Juan, I'll bet you'd be surprised at the high water levels in CA dams at construction, compared to the levels now. The demand for water has raised levels beyond what the original designers planned, causing the "unplanned" overflows.
The Army Corp of Engineers did a lot of these flood control projects and dams at one time. They were responsible for designating flood planes and keeping them free of any structures. Yet somehow many are being built on with resultant disasters and loss of life and property.
Stupid is as stupid takes bribes. One would think it would have the standard "two instead of one, fuckwit" redundancy every other earthwork dam in the world has... but no, this is California.
Thanks Jaun. I came to your channel for aviation related vlogs but I really enjoy these kind of reports and your explanation of them now. Your never to old to learn stuff. Cheers buddy 👍🏻👍🏻🙂
Another interesting Dam situ, I would not want to be living below that one, until it was completely rebuilt down to bedrock with 21 first century specs, is that the plan? (eventually) Great report Juan, I`m sure you will have more on this and a Mighty Luscombe fly past in the not too distant future... hope so!!!
It's a long haul from Nevada County to Anderson Dam in a Luscombe and longer on the way back, due to wind. I hate watching semi trucks pass me on the freeway.
While i am skeptical of calls to remove dams for "restoring" fisheries (if you want fish farm them) this is one where i am in agreement with FERC. I never thought I would say that. The Anderson dam was built for flood control and irrigation. Hence it was done as cheaply as possible. That is why it's foundations are not properly earthquake restant. The urbanisation of the valley has also greatly I increased the potential loss of life and damage to insurance company's profits. This reservoir should be drained, or nearly so, and a decision needs to be made to determine if it should be removed, repaired or completely rebuilt. Who makes that decision is the big question. One of the best videos on a topic I am very familiar with. Well done.
Nestle's business model is this: bribe local politicians, who in turn give Nestle unrestricted access to the local spring along with exemptions from environmental protection regulations. Nestle then sells their bottled water at a greedy markup through the use of bogus health marketing. Nestle shows a contempt for business ethics and sustainability.
Ah yes! I thought you would do a video on this subject when I saw the article about it. I'm so glad you did. I didn't understand why they hadn't done anything about this yet but now I do. Big sigh. Well, at least they are finally getting to it. I hope they do it right. They don't have to take all the water out to fix the problem, ……………. do they? I really appreciate the information you get to us out here. And I loved that earthquake explanation and the 3 stages. I too have seen the rolling part of the quake in Sebastopol during the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was parked at a produce store and thought a friend was jumping on my bumper. I got out of the car and realized that the whole earth was rolling under me and there was nobody teasing me. I could see the earth rolling like swells in the ocean from south to north. YIKES! I'll never forget that. Thanks again Juan!
I live adjacent to Coyote Creek. Its sad but there isn't very much life in the creek. At night I don't hear any frogs, crickets, bugs, etc. In 2017 when it flooded further south it was stunning how much garbage was floating in it. I saw paint cans, wood, strollers, even a shell of a TV!
I remember the rolling waves like ocean swells during the Loma Prieta earthquake, watching the swell come at me across the parking lot where I worked at Junction and Brokaw near Hwy17.
Those rolling waves are wild. I saw them during the Whittier Narrows quake (CA). The football field looked like a green ocean of grass with 3' swells traveling hundreds of miles an hour.
It sounds as if FERC have made the correct decision. Actually, clay is the worst risk of liquefaction of all, particularly if it has become waterlogged - in many cases it becomes thixotropic. An analysis of the exact composition of the clay is needed to determine the risk - but perversely, collecting those samples poses a risk in itself, as they have to be obtained at a range of depths using core sampling - which risks starting the process of liquefaction. Once triggered by something like an earthquake, large areas can turn from apparently solid ground into completely liquid muddy water. The higher the water content, the less of a shock it takes to start this happening, and it is self-perpetuating until the entire waterlogged area of clay has collapsed. As my father was Chief Rivers Engineer for the Greater London Council until its abolition and his retirement (and the whole of London is built on boulder clay), a Chartered Civil Engineer, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Member of the Institution of Water Engineers and Member of the institution of Public Health Engineers, I grew up with this kind of knowledge, in which I was also assisted by my grandfather's cousin, who was chief geologist for British Petroleum 1966-71. You can google him - Sir Peter (technically Percy, which he hated) Kent PhD, Fellow of the Geological Society, Fellow of the Royal Society, President of the Geological Society 1974-76. ( discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8a947744-a3fc-414a-ac89-ff6ea7eedc77 ) The classic demonstration (which was shown to me by Sir Peter when we were both staying with my grandparents) for the unbelieving is to take a lump of apparently normal clay, hand it to them, let them confirm that it is firm but mouldable, show them a container and allow them to confirm it is empty, then put the clay into the container and stir vigorously before pouring the now liquid clay out onto a surface on which it will flow freely and messily. Clay with initially high salt content and composed of tiny flakes of flat rock rather than grains has the highest risk - you can check that with an ordinary level of microscopy, such as might be found in an average high school or even a better-funded elementary. There is no safe level of construction on such material, and in your case, the dam has undoubtedly been slowly waterlogging the underlying clay for decades, possibly leaching salts out and destroying the integrity, which relies on the flakes being randomly distributed, in which state they can absorb a huge amount of water. When shocked or shaken though, they collapse like a house of cards, ejecting the water from the structure of the clay and forming slip, as well as fountains of liquid clay rising tens of feet into the air. A good description can be found in the novel "Campbell's Kingdom" by Hammond Innes (made into a movie starring Dirk Bogarde), which features the collapse of a dam as the result. The book is better, particularly as he was kind enough to sign my copy at my school's annual prizegiving day! That section could almost be a case study of Anderson dam, by the sound of it. You actually need to not just scrape it to the bedrock, but fasten the foundations to that bedrock, in order for the construction to be safe amidst such clay in an earthquake area. Drilling holes into the bedrock for the ends of the rebar reinforcement of the concrete core is the generally accepted method, but that could vary depending on the local geology. I hope I've passed on the information I learned as a child and teenager correctly, but I am not an expert, merely citing those who were. I can't check it with either of them, as they have since passed away - but if I could, I would. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have two such reliable mentors in my own family
I'm loving those visual aids Juan! Your videos are both entertaining and genuinely educational. I know a little bit about this subject, and you stated the issue very plainly. You don't even need an earthquake for a failure of this type of dam. If I lived in the Anderson Floodplain, I'd be wanting this issue addressed with an abundance of foresight and urgency. Although I'm not familiar with this area, it looks as though a failure of this structure could impact a population similar in size to Oroville's. The Oroville catastrophe, with the necessary evacuation of almost 200,000 citizens, would justify the draining of Anderson Lake from the standpoint of cost alone. And if you're lucky enough to catch a dam failure in time (i.e., before people die), the cost savings could go a long way towards restoring the eco. structure of the waterway once the lake is made safe. Pay me now, or pay me later, many lives could be in jeopardy here.
Our son was in the first year class of a grade school that was converted into a STEM middle school (6th, 7th and 8th). It had a forward thinking program that included band, orchestra, chorus, sports, theater as well as the core curriculum of math and science. He really came the well rounded individual he is now.
I can tell you that FERC is not likely going to let this drag out much longer. Look what happened to Edenville Dam in Michigan just over a year ago after they kept dragging their feet & breaking repeated promises to make the needed repair to their dam - FERC revoked the license for that dam & ordered that huge lake drained immediately. That huge lake is still empty to this day and no work has begun on the required repairs needed to the Edenville Dam.
Sorry Blanco, we here on the east coast have stolen your rain. I did not know I was buying prime NC swamp land in 2005. not 5 days goes buy without rain here. All fall, winter. My water management on my property is working great. But the atv trails around me have gone to swamp. Mother nature....try to figure that one out and give us a report. Love the videos, Glad your "Almost" cleared. Keep posting.
Why are you apologizing for "stealing" rain? There is not one damn thing you can do about where rain falls...unless you're a crazy person...even that doesn't work. Secondly, buy "low" land, risk flood...have lower land on your property, all the rain comes down out of the mountains after the ground is already saturated...from rain...at sea level... Answer=swamp....especially with clay in the ground, beavers swimming around, and any trees whatsoever.
I'm hearing, from family living in the Sacramento area, that N. Cal. at least, maybe entering a drought season. How will draining the Anderson Reservoir affect water resources in a time of drought?
Hi Juan, Your rain may be here in Drouin, Victoria, Australia, where we have had more than twice our average February rainfall. However, having tried farming for a couple of years, I never complain about rain falling. Send her down, Hughie, is what I say. Would be nice if it would drift a bit eastward toward the part of the state where the bushfires were so fierce. The fires are now contained but not out.
Is the water from the lake used for farming in the area? There are so many dams that were built before a lot of research was done. They need to be replaced but nobody wants to do it. Nothing has gone wrong for so many years that it's assumed it never will.
Anderson Lake is the largest of ten reservoirs operated by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. It provides drinking water (and perhaps contributes to agricultural use water), and the dam provides flood control.
If you were recently questioning a possible drought soon, is now the best time to drain a lake? (Assuming it can be used as a water source and also that I understood the opening animation of the dam draining into the ocean - not another lake).
Lake Anderson is part of the water supply system. The animation was showing what might happen if the dam slumped (due to liquefaction) and failed. The dam emergency spillway and the outlet at the base of the dam both flow into Coyote Creek, which eventually discharges into San Francisco Bay.
Great discussion, Juan! More information in 15 minutes than watching 5 years of mainstream media reporting, and that's a fact! It's the same in the Northeast with the trash. Every major city has it strewn in every drain, and drainage basin. Mixed in with that are countless used syringes. I wouldn't wade into any of it if my life depended on it. Last time my buddy went fishing on an urban lake, he caught an I.V. bag. Ironically, it's all directly caused by the policies of the people who have a stranglehold on power in MA. I can see it's no different out there on the opposite coast. Sad!!
All 8 of the reservoir dams in Santa Clara county are earth filled dams. All built about 70 years ago.Six of them are just a few miles or from San Andreas Fault. One is owned by San Francisco. Anderson has been drained before, I drove across the bottom, Coyote Creek, I use to skinny dip in it in the 1950's at our secret, gravel lined bottom, swimming hole that had fish living in the creek, and of course crawdads
“Where’s the rain” Juan groans. “I groan back - “We got yer rain right here!” Because of abnormally frequent rains over time, a mudslide took out two houses high on a Tennessee River bluff; along with their vehicles. If you saw it on TV, our county Fire Chief did that drone video. Thank the Lord no one was hurt! For at least 2 years, we’ll be taking the only other alternate route to town, (which adds quite a few miles) but I’m not complaining; some folks lost everything!😥Please keep us (southern West Tennessee) in your prayers too. Thank you so much!😘 But, yes, we got the rain.😩
I experienced an earthquake in 96' in Calistoga (Napa Valley). I was asleep at the time (7? AM) and was awakened by what sounded like a roaring fast approaching freight train. Just got louder and louder as it approached and then wham it hit the house like an explosion/sonic boom and then the noise started fading away as it continued on moving away. Been through several during the 50+ years that I lived in N. CA including the Loma Prieta, (Benicia at the time) but that was a new one on me!
I will have to correct you on that, I think rather than aging infrastructure isn't just a US problem. If you replace that with WORLD, then you may be onto something.
Hello CMDR - Not sure of the rest of the world but " generally " here in Australia most Gov' owned infrastructure is maintained, that said, infrastructure that has been sold off is not kept to the same standard it once was, out electric grid also suffers from greenies and lack of uprgrades, in the recent bush fires, lots of poles were destroyed, the companies had to bring in other States crews to help re-build. Maybe the damage was so large that they would have had to have done that even if the utilities were not sold off. I am surprised though when I watch US TV shows the number of rusty bridges in the background. It seems in this case CA is more concerned with the possible damage to the outlet pipe in the case of an earthquake than the whole dam failing - I wonder how many would drown if that happened??
So they’re being ordered to drain completely, despite the technical advice to keep the level above the outlet pipe? Did I miss something here, or has engineering gone for a Burton?
I was in Glendale when the Sylmar quake hit in 71. What a ride! Years later, I experienced a quake and had the experience of watching the rolling motion while outside. I was facing the source and saw the waves rapidly pass in front and below me. I still am amazed at the deformation concrete and asphalt can endure. This is some unbelievable energy. California has allowed its infrastructure to decay for far too long. The taxpayers have given dutifully for decades, but the money has been evaporating faster than a puddle in the Mojave desert. It's time to stop this gravy train and fix our dams. We need reservoirs.
Great video! Been a subscriber for years. Anderson and coyote are in my backyard and I havent heard any in depth coverage on the news on the issue. I go boating at each all summer, and they close both around mid july to drain it just in case we get an early wet winter. We are fed up! Shut it down and rebuild. Isnt that the real answer? Shut it down June 1st and retrofit? Thanks again, great channel.
I'm wondering, could you schedule your flood for later so it won't impact the bay area commute? :) Sounds like they could benefit from a secant cutoff wall down the core of the dam. Used to play in the Metcalf ORV park to keep the dirt skills sharp. Everytime a reservoir has been drained, there has been massive hydraulic slumping all around the shores.
Who would have imagined that a middle aged aged dirt biking professional pilot would be one of the pre-eminent YT presenters on aviation and civil structures/geotechnical problems! As a Middle aged retired civil engineer KTM500 owner I really appreciate Juan’s presentation for their excellent balance of technical and layman’s information. Keep up the great work. I would suggest that Juan should move into explaining the upcoming climate disaster we will soon face.
Catchbucket; they are the buckstop for all water cachement in the US. FERC got involved a couple decades ago with a 12 foot berm in Northern Georgia. Since they deal with dams they also deal with earthworks and wetlands as well.
There is a small outlet hole that was passed to make hydroelectric, but is not that effective considering the size of the surrounding population. The run down "hydroelectric" shack that the FEDS control is why they are trying to push this agenda through. Plus a critical breakage of the dam would ONLY happen if is raining a lot, while the reservoir was left completely full and an earthquake happens.
Great rundown Juan. But will the Federal Government provide funds to help rebuild the dam? And also importantly (and I know because of the 2007 almost 50,000 Acre "Lick Fire" in Henry Coe State Park when I lived down there), that Anderson Reservoir was used for helicopter air-drops in that fire and many other large wildfires historically (but they probably also used [or could use] Coyote Reservoir). Henry W. Coe is the 2nd largest State Park in California, (and largest in Northern California), and home to some of the last remaining Tule Elk Herds in California. This park actually has an "open" hunting season during part of the year. The first link (video) shows you the topography/nature of the area (although a few miles north of it) - and a really amazing video actually. When I clicked on it (just out of curiosity) it kinda blew my mind (on a 65" 4K OLED TV as a monitor). And the 2nd link (video) shows the Tule Elk in Henry Coe. tinyurl.com/wsyw2no At one point there were almost 2000 firefighters fighting that fire. PBS did a documentary on the fire in 2007/2008 (linked below). It has some footage of the DC-10 (and other) air-drops, and claims it was "the world's only firefighting jetliner" (at that time). One thing that was cool about this episode was NASA Ames Research Center (for the first time in history) used brand new high technology to fight this fire, - a NASA Predator Drone used to image the fire digitally in several different ways to aid the firefighting effort. The CalFire Base Camp for the Lick Fire, was at the Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, - site of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival (and tragic mass shooting last year). th-cam.com/video/71XTZXRbfhg/w-d-xo.html bayareane.ws/2Vn7UYF
Thank you, Juan. Those are old stomping grounds for me, and I did not know about those sources of water to the SF Bay. That's an odd perspective for the environmentalists... typically the fish return and flourish when the stream bed is cleaned up and kept that way and not much is made of the water flows being consistent because it has been natural to have a wet season and a dry season, and the fish don't show up for the latter. For people who follow these kinds of situations, some of our recent flooding in Houston has created a lot of conflict between land owners (on both sides of a dam) and the feds. My take is that local governments approved development of expensive suburbs well within the likely flooding area of a flood control dam. Upstream folks were flooded by the Corps to protect the downstream folks in the city of Houston itself, and for whom the dams were originally built to benefit. Then, fearing dam failure (or using it as an excuse), the Corps opened the flood gates of the dam and destroyed many properties downstream. Both parties sued the Feds. I wish they had sued the developers instead, but that's my prejudice. The downstream case is ongoing. Thank you again for making sense of nonsense. www.texastribune.org/2019/12/17/hurricane-harvey-flood-victims-barker-addicks-reservoirs-win-lawsuit/ and www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Hurricane-Harvey-lawsuit-upstream-downstream-win-15071315.php
Fantastic report as usual, thanks, Juan - I used to live near this dam and found your channel years ago when I was exploring CA dams for background! A minor interesting point: the dam outflow is very close to the watershed between the SF bay and Monterey bay: note how the water eventually flows both ways in the simulation!
Simple sample of liquefaction is the use of vibrators in concrete pouring. These long sticks that are driven into the fresh concrete vibrate and make the concrete flow into all edges of the casting and make all air bubble up.
Thanks Juan . They pump water over the hill from San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos into the system . San Luis is off sight storage which is pumped into it from the aqueduct coming out of the delta which gets it's water from Shasta . You can get Lake Shasta water from the tap in Los Angeles , over 500 miles away .
Yep!
I maintained flood control pump stations for years. The public has no idea how much rubbish and debris are thrown into flood control or storm water discharge structures. I've pulled washers, dryers, ranges, and cars out of discharge channels. It's not just the homeless who are causing problems. It's every person who backs a pickup truck to those ditches and dumps their old appliances. For goodness sake people, DON'T DUMP JUNK where it doesn't belong!
Is that still common with recycling paying lot more I found all the old cars left in the deserts got taken away for scrap. All I see now guys picking up junk I ran into guy taking an old worn out leather office chair I put out for bulk pickup. I asked him how he recycles it mostly foam he said the place takes anything he gets like $5 for that chair. He was telling me old days they didn't take stuff wasn't clean metal now all different they take anything has metal on it.
I have a pond and the road in front of my place has a colvert. Everytime it rains I get people who throw their trash out the windows clogging up the inlet to the pond. So far no cars, washers, dryers but plastic bottles, beer cans is just as bad
Agreed with illegal dumping. A local group in SutterCounty/ Yuba City area ... meets once a month to scout out and pick up items dumped . The amount of material they pick up is staggering.
Whiny voice " But that costs money!"
In my area it's free at county and city trash collection areas with a copy of a water bill.🙄
Salvage yards buy scrap metals at decent prices.
Not just dumping either. Some burn trash at their properties while we are under a burn ban due to drought🌵
And these are the same people who squeal the loudest when they get caught and fined and blame every one ( the poor people, the government, etc) BUT themselves when a fire gets out of control or there is flooding due to stopped up drainage.
AMERICA.
Thank you for bringing attention to the situation with Anderson dam. The mismanagement and lack of action to repair this dam is criminally negligent. The Santa Clara Valley water district has drained Lake Anderson before and did not update or fix the issues. Not a surprise that the State of California ignores this infrastructure.
Excellent practical demonstration of P and S waves. Well done.
I too have seen the sine waves during the Whittier quake of 10/1/97 (day before my daughter was born). Was operating a truck on a chassis dyno when the quake hit and could see the waves passing through the parked trucks in front of me. They were rolling toward/away from each other in waves. Quite unforgettable!
I live in San Jose and well remember the 2017 flooding with all the homeless camps clogging up the creek, and the rescue efforts that were then necessary. I'm glad that FERC is lighting a fire under the local authorities to get this taken care of.
going to be totally crude here....only in america can the homeless have so much stuff they can clog up a river!
It's the same problem all over. The same people calling for plastic bag and drinking straw bans don't say a peep when the homeless turn all the bridges over Walnut Creek into garbage dumps, which in turn get swept into the bay every high water event.
@@brendanh8978 Drinking straws and homeless people have nothing to do with each other.
@@LardGreystoke the drinking straw ban was driven largely by the ocean plastic disaster (which was famously personalized by the turtle with the straw stuck in its nose). The homeless discard untold tons of trash, much it plastic, which gets swept away to the sea. There is no appetite to do much about the latter, while the former was swiftly addressed by legislation.
@A Tangerine thanks for impugning my motives. Very mature and charitable of you.
There is plenty of appetite to tax and spend more on homeless. There is zero appetite to actually address the addiction, crime, and mess of homelessness with any kind of tough love. Which is why it only gets worse.
Juan,
Thank you for that very informative video! As a non-Californian I knew nothing about the Anderson Dam and the issues related to it. Thank you for educating me and explaning the issues. Although I live in MA I am somewhat familiar with the overall water issues in the west having read Marc Reisner's Cadillac Desert in the 1980s.
God Bless
Paul (in MA)
My old stompin' grounds. You are 100% spot on again Juan! When this was built there was very little except farms in the flood plain area. Now it's million dollar homes(a 1960's 1800 sq foot ranch is a million plus these days) and High Tech Office Buildings & Factories all the way to the Bay along Coyote Creek. When I recall how much we paid for water in San Jose before we moved out of California, it was beyond crazy over what we pay now. Sure it's even more expensive now just like PG&E
@A Tangerine I'd agree with you to a point. In the last drought in 2013-2015, we conserved to about 40% less than average and then noticed our rates still went up because San Jose Water was not making as much money because folks were conserving too well! I also noticed that government lawns at building and schools continued to stay nice and green....so even if they paid more who paid for that? The taxpayers.
Rates in SoCal have gone off the chart.
The Public Utilities Commission approves EVERY rate increase demanded by PG&E. They have NO incentive to lower rates.
Our household of 2 retired women has had bills as high as $300/month for WATER ALONE.
(yes we have had our lines checked for leakage.)
Mom and I are careful about usage & own water conserving appliances.
Our garden is on timed watering, drought resistant plants, etc.
It has become quite a burden to pay for basic utilities.
This is San Diego, in case you're wondering.
@A Tangerine Don't be silly. The Environment gets over 50%, farms take up 47%, and consumers get around 3% of all the water diverted (approximate figures). So if you want to save water its either cut back the water going to the Environment or farmers, not golf courses or even households.
My dad moved out of California back in 1999 right when Grey-out Davis became governor, he never regretted moving out and never looked back.
@A Tangerine Me too, I wouldn't want to be in that fuck up state either
Best coverage of dams and planes ever on Blancolirio. Thanks.
Once again I'm impressed with the clarity of Juan's reports and the easy but spot-on explanations. Considering that this is not Browne's main job makes me wonder what the implications would be if he did this full time.
Thanks, Juan, for dedicating your time to help us understand better!
Who allowed houses to be built in front of a dam wow that's stupid
Not the first place in CA that has been tried...
Somebody made a buck. The American religion.
The same folks who built next to SFO😃
Most of these reservoirs are built many years ago Federal Government and states. They leave building permits up to the local counties, and cites. The locals are easily controlled by money only takes about a million dollars to get something passed, or someone elected so most local politicians just give in to home builders. Tract homes are highly profitable if you ever owned a tract home see how poor the construction is all illegal immigrants who do the work though low bid sub contractors. I have found even the owners of those subs are illegal too.
Dividend Homes built most of the houses below the the dam, along with a couple other developers. They pushed pretty hard. Basically to make money at any cost.
I see one problem reading the Dam's description - 1 acre-foot of water (325851 gallons) sufficient for 2 families of 5 for a year! Out here in Texas where we live the base rate starts at 2000 gallon per month! Cost goes up from there!
Also curious - what about the upstream dam at Coyote Lake? It looks to be the same type of construction!
Ringtone should be the same as theme song,just saying.
Haa good idea!
The theme song is probably Jaun's boss lady's ringtone ,lol !
WOW! Very close to my old home. Sorta glad I left in the late 70's..
Thanks Juan..
I have a childhood friend who now lives in a trailer park next to Coyote Creek. Back in '17 he was livid about the squatters (Homeless) and all their stuff messing up the creek. Ever since then he has gotten more vocal about it each time I talk with him as the situation gets worse and worse. Can't the authorities keep them out of water control areas. Put them where their stuff won't affect high water. sdh in CT
Desperate measure maybe but a constant flow of water down the creek would go a long way to keep things clear and that means the squatters too.
Local authorities from Morgan Hill to San Jose and Santa Clara County are more concerned with running "sanctuary cities" and a "sanctuary county" than doing what should be done. Vote 'em all out at the next election and replace them with _sane_ candidates.
Not as long as eBay subsidizes the operation of San Jose.
@@delukxy That would also keep it a living creek. So it is a win win.
@@delukxy as it should have been done and could once again if only for the limited hydroelectric power it generates. But, when these things were built we were not concerned about the future power needs or environmental damage so the attitude was "damn the fishes and damn the torpedos, full steam ahead"
I just retired after 45+ years as a Hydro Operator. FERC is often toothless. In 2015, I had a spillgate stick full open during required testing, had to smack it with a large track hoe to get it to lower. The words “uncontrolled release” went into a report to FERC, yet that gate still has not been repaired. BTW that dam is 90 years old.
When I read that today I was wondering if you were going to follow it and now we get a inside story on that dam.
Thanks Juan... Very good explanation. Not a native of California, but lived in the Bay Area for 21 years and was a first responder after the Loma Prieta quake. This is what happens when you don't have competition, whether in business or government..... Things get ignored for the 'sexy'current issue de jeur.... Until the you know what it's the you know what.... Then the finger pointing starts and, unlike in aviation, the guilty never get the bill!
Juan you might be a commercial airline pilot but you do such an awesome job delivering us all this great content!
I've been a user of this lake for 20 years, they knew about the dam issues 12 years ago, no action
Your comment sounds funny.
They dont care. they need more reservoirs also.
ora et labora the repubs haven't exactly been jumping to fix the infrastructure either
Watch the news get fluff and propaganda, watch Juan get the facts and learn something. Thanks again Juan
Juan, you're the man my friend. I started following you and the reports you were posting during the Oroville Dam near disaster in 2017. Your daily reporting was excellent, many ways out classing the local guys hands down. When you took to aerial reporting I recall thinking how cool. At the time I was unaware of your aviation background and the love and respect you have for it. I have enjoyed all of your videos and get a kick out the ones with your junior staff members. You're a good man Mr. Blancolirio, thank you for keeping me better informed.
Why would anyone buy a home (directly) below a damn? Better question, why would the powers that be allow homes to be built below a damn?
If you watch the potential flooding simulation at the start of the video you'll discover that it's not just homes directly below the dam that are in danger. If the dam goes, half the city of San Jose would be flooded, including the downtown and the airport. Furthermore, flooding would also occur south as much as 40 miles away to Monterey Bay, taking out significant portions of the city of Santa Cruz. Since the city of San Jose was there first (founded 1750), the real question is why was the dam allowed to be built where it could flood the city? The reason of course, is that the creek with no dam also had potential to flood the city! Dams in California are typically multi-use. In this case Anderson Dam provides drinking water to the water district, it provides flood control, it provides steady, controlled aquatic habitat to the Coyote Creek watershed and it offers recreational uses.
@@dlwatib Santa Cruz is at the Northern edge of Monterey Bay and would be missed entirely if the damn failed based on the Valley Water video. Watsonville though has a comparable population and looks like it'd take a direct hit to me. Gilroy also has 50+k people in it and would be hit bad.
A part of the problem as I recall years ago, is that as our understanding of the geology around there increased over time, so did the estimated chances of a sufficiently large earthquake close to the damn increased. Combine that with the damn not being as sound as originally thought and it's a recipe for trouble.
That would be so the powers that be have their palms greased, who in turn wet the hand of the powers that don’t be, who in turn spit in the palms of those who tie the steel and dump the rock. Too bad none of them will be alive if it fails.
Money talks, everything else walks.....
better question.. why even try to have a huge non power generating dam in earthquake country?
Thanks for explaining this in a way that even a dam engineer or a county water commissioner can understand.
Maybe if Pete built a clay sculpture of the dam they might be able to grasp it. As an arts administrator and teacher it’s great to see your STEAM shirt.
Interesting earthquake demonstration - brought me back to my college science class where we covered that subject but not like you did - if I had that visual then it would have been easier to remember the difference between the waves.👍
Grew up in California. Lived through the 72 earthquake in southern California and the resulting evacuation of the Van Norman Reservoir. Then again in what? 89? And then 94? And NEVER, Juan, has anyone explained it all so well! You should be a geology prof! :-)
You do mean the 1971 Sylmar earthquake, don't you? That quake occurred February 9 1971. The Van Norman dam was damaged, but did not fail completely, fortunately, and there was no flooding. It was quickly drained, though, and has never been refilled.
@Angela G "Lived through the 72 earthquake in southern California and the resulting evacuation of the Van Norman Reservoir." Sounds to me like Sylmar earthquake of 1971. There was no major earthquake in CA in 1972.
@Angela G Yea, he just got the date wrong by 1 year; I was just teasing about that. We had a big one in Southern California last summer. I happened to drive by the epicenter just hours before it happened. I was all the way to LA when it struck. Lamps were swinging, and trees were shaking, even 100 miles away from the center!
Can't be a geology professor, he actually has practical knowledge of real life, where college professors have to have no practical knowledge
Juan, I thought that water eating away under the dam was also not good. It weakens the dam from the bottom up. Knock out the foundation and the dam falls.
This is evident when water is seeping through the dam on the outflow side.
Who builds a town directly under a dam? This is Darwin’s theory at work.
Housing developers buy the land, local governments approve residential zoning for the land, insurers cover the developers, construction firms bid, realtors sell. All of these people have the ability to say no, but none of them do. Humans are very short-sighted and not especially intelligent.
Cheers,
Alan Tomlinson
Thank God I live in Western Massachusetts, the Berkshires. No big earthquakes, no raging forest fires and plenty of rain. Lately starting to appreciate were we live, more and more, after all that's happening in other parts of the world. Great coverage Juan.
As a former resident of La Mesa, CA I don't miss those 6:oo AM earthquakes ( keep those to yourself, L.A. ), not to mention the vibration we felt during the great Alaska earthquake of Good Friday, 1964. As a firefighter/EMT here in Minnesota my sense of disaster preparation was sharpened considerably during my California days. Thanks for the info, Juan.
Great breakdown. Unbiased, informative and worthy of reporting.
Thanks Juan.
Quit flying. Start a new career. you would make a great journalist. I always watch your reports, even though i could care less about the subject. One of the most trivial things i have seen lately, but so important for the infrastructure issue; was the picture you showed on a video about the broken electric wire supports..it was a powerful sight, to find a worn, metal clamp under the electric tower..you showed that..nobody else has.. very good attention to a critical detail.
Wait until he reveals that it is him playing all of the background guitar licks. Everyone is going to go.....whoooa! :O
Seriously i got excited to see another dam report ...
@ Not so. Read the credits at the end.
@@lizj5740 I just skipped around to the guitar parts.
He could be the first educated governor of the State of Califuckedup.
A good example of Liquefaction, San Francisco, the Marina district 1989, I think.
John Rodrigues yes!
And that fault is only 12 miles to the west!
Part of the port area hit by the Kobe Japan earthquake also liquified.
take your coffee filter basket out and smack it on the side with your spoon a couple times
There is video of liquefaction in Indonesia -> Indonesia Liquefaction: 'The Ground Was Swirling
Hands down one of the best channels on TH-cam
Juan, you show an dam inundation animation for the Anderson Dam during the intro to this video. Can you please post a link? I live downstream and my home would become submerged I believe for a few hours if Anderson Dam were to fail catastrophically.
Marty Garrison it’s in the links above in the description.
th-cam.com/video/sCCnzSfQYew/w-d-xo.html Click show more under the Mark Twain quotes.
Insolent Stickleback Thank you.
blancolirio Thanks for the reply and thanks for all the great reporting on California water.
Marty Garrison Hope you have flood insurance
You are an incredible journalist probably the best ever. You can take a topic and make it so interesting and i especially appreciate the facts that you present and obviously have researched. Keep up the great work. You ever thought about running for President. You obviously have an incredible ability to learn whatever it is your interested in and then a personality that is easy to learn from an incredible teacher.
Juan, Why not build a new dam slightly downstream from the original one? This way they could continue to allow controlled releases through the new dams bypass tunnels. There would be no need to deplete the original dams water levels until the new dams construction was completed.
Thank You Juan! Once again, lack of maintenance and Environmental politics thwart the necessary improvements of our California water system. As always, Thank you Juan for your informative reporting. Oroville,2. Can you post a link for support $$.Ron C.
Juan you need to be teaching you are beyond an expert. Thanks for the mention of the aging water infrastructure across the nation and answering my questions the other day. Currently at my final draft of proposal, I’m get back with you when my draft clears peer review.
Mark Twain has some great quotes. Thank you Blanco for giving me a new one.
Juan, I started watching you to learn what was happening with the 737 MAX and have picked up some great aviation information. But this story is fascinating. I graduated from high school in San Jose 50 years ago. I used Google earth to measure the distance from Anderson dam to my old house and it is 40.1 miles downstream. It’s hard to make out from the video but I think it would be under water based on the worst case scenario. It is currently priced at $1.6 m (it was around $40k when my parents bought it).
We used to drive to the beach on the back roads through Watsonville. There are several other reservoirs in that area. And at the time we considered them in the middle of nowhere. Not a sole was living anywhere near them.
Great video. I'm sending it to my oldest brother Jerry, who lives in Redding, Ca. He predicts earthquakes and is a part of Project Migraine of USGS. I went to Woodrow Wilson Jr High (1 semester) in San Jose back in the 60's and experienced a couple of good earthquakes. Raised in SW Kansas I experienced several up close and personal tornadoes! I'll take an earthquake anytime!
Hope you get back to flying soon!
Greetings from Central Washington, the land of $.023 kwh power courtesy of the big dams on the mighty Columbia River. The dam I work at, Wells Dam, has a large concrete powerhouse in the middle, but earth embankments at each end. The Feds are pushing for a $500M repair/replacement of the east embankment for similar reasons to Anderson Dam. Rates will be going up a bit to help pay for it.
Mr Juan, I'll bet you'd be surprised at the high water levels in CA dams at construction, compared to the levels now. The demand for water has raised levels beyond what the original designers planned, causing the "unplanned" overflows.
The Army Corp of Engineers did a lot of these flood control projects and dams at one time. They were responsible for designating flood planes and keeping them free of any structures. Yet somehow many are being built on with resultant disasters and loss of life and property.
For a project that large one would think that the outlet structure would have been larger
Stupid is as stupid takes bribes. One would think it would have the standard "two instead of one, fuckwit" redundancy every other earthwork dam in the world has... but no, this is California.
Thanks Jaun. I came to your channel for aviation related vlogs but I really enjoy these kind of reports and your explanation of them now. Your never to old to learn stuff. Cheers buddy 👍🏻👍🏻🙂
Another interesting Dam situ, I would not want to be living below that one, until it was completely rebuilt down to bedrock with 21 first century specs, is that the plan? (eventually) Great report Juan, I`m sure you will have more on this and a Mighty Luscombe fly past in the not too distant future... hope so!!!
It's a long haul from Nevada County to Anderson Dam in a Luscombe and longer on the way back, due to wind. I hate watching semi trucks pass me on the freeway.
This guy would make an incredible high school teacher. If the FAA steals his ticket, I hope he considers this diversion. Great work as always Juan.
While i am skeptical of calls to remove dams for "restoring" fisheries (if you want fish farm them) this is one where i am in agreement with FERC. I never thought I would say that. The Anderson dam was built for flood control and irrigation. Hence it was done as cheaply as possible. That is why it's foundations are not properly earthquake restant. The urbanisation of the valley has also greatly I increased the potential loss of life and damage to insurance company's profits.
This reservoir should be drained, or nearly so, and a decision needs to be made to determine if it should be removed, repaired or completely rebuilt. Who makes that decision is the big question.
One of the best videos on a topic I am very familiar with. Well done.
Just siphon it out? No pumps needed.
Get Nestle to bottle it all....will be gone in weeks
They would make a whopping $1,000 by selling it to Nestle.
@Gordy, -(Golf Clap)-
Nestle's business model is this: bribe local politicians, who in turn give Nestle unrestricted access to the local spring along with exemptions from environmental protection regulations. Nestle then sells their bottled water at a greedy markup through the use of bogus health marketing. Nestle shows a contempt for business ethics and sustainability.
Siphon only works to about 32 feet at standard temperature and pressure ... beyond that you NEED pumps to go over things.
Chris Schack I didn’t know that. Why just 32 ft if you have the drop on the outlet?
Thank you for covering this important story, Juan.
Ah yes! I thought you would do a video on this subject when I saw the article about it. I'm so glad you did. I didn't understand why they hadn't done anything about this yet but now I do. Big sigh. Well, at least they are finally getting to it. I hope they do it right. They don't have to take all the water out to fix the problem, ……………. do they? I really appreciate the information you get to us out here. And I loved that earthquake explanation and the 3 stages. I too have seen the rolling part of the quake in Sebastopol during the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was parked at a produce store and thought a friend was jumping on my bumper. I got out of the car and realized that the whole earth was rolling under me and there was nobody teasing me. I could see the earth rolling like swells in the ocean from south to north. YIKES! I'll never forget that. Thanks again Juan!
There’s a huge difference between environmentally sound action and the fanatic idiocy of most environmental groups.
mister kluge Why not.. Mine are always correct, unlike yours
I live adjacent to Coyote Creek. Its sad but there isn't very much life in the creek. At night I don't hear any frogs, crickets, bugs, etc. In 2017 when it flooded further south it was stunning how much garbage was floating in it. I saw paint cans, wood, strollers, even a shell of a TV!
I remember the rolling waves like ocean swells during the Loma Prieta earthquake, watching the swell come at me across the parking lot where I worked at Junction and Brokaw near Hwy17.
Those rolling waves are wild. I saw them during the Whittier Narrows quake (CA). The football field looked like a green ocean of grass with 3' swells traveling hundreds of miles an hour.
It sounds as if FERC have made the correct decision.
Actually, clay is the worst risk of liquefaction of all, particularly if it has become waterlogged - in many cases it becomes thixotropic. An analysis of the exact composition of the clay is needed to determine the risk - but perversely, collecting those samples poses a risk in itself, as they have to be obtained at a range of depths using core sampling - which risks starting the process of liquefaction.
Once triggered by something like an earthquake, large areas can turn from apparently solid ground into completely liquid muddy water. The higher the water content, the less of a shock it takes to start this happening, and it is self-perpetuating until the entire waterlogged area of clay has collapsed.
As my father was Chief Rivers Engineer for the Greater London Council until its abolition and his retirement (and the whole of London is built on boulder clay), a Chartered Civil Engineer, Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Member of the Institution of Water Engineers and Member of the institution of Public Health Engineers, I grew up with this kind of knowledge, in which I was also assisted by my grandfather's cousin, who was chief geologist for British Petroleum 1966-71. You can google him - Sir Peter (technically Percy, which he hated) Kent PhD, Fellow of the Geological Society, Fellow of the Royal Society, President of the Geological Society 1974-76. ( discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/8a947744-a3fc-414a-ac89-ff6ea7eedc77 )
The classic demonstration (which was shown to me by Sir Peter when we were both staying with my grandparents) for the unbelieving is to take a lump of apparently normal clay, hand it to them, let them confirm that it is firm but mouldable, show them a container and allow them to confirm it is empty, then put the clay into the container and stir vigorously before pouring the now liquid clay out onto a surface on which it will flow freely and messily. Clay with initially high salt content and composed of tiny flakes of flat rock rather than grains has the highest risk - you can check that with an ordinary level of microscopy, such as might be found in an average high school or even a better-funded elementary. There is no safe level of construction on such material, and in your case, the dam has undoubtedly been slowly waterlogging the underlying clay for decades, possibly leaching salts out and destroying the integrity, which relies on the flakes being randomly distributed, in which state they can absorb a huge amount of water. When shocked or shaken though, they collapse like a house of cards, ejecting the water from the structure of the clay and forming slip, as well as fountains of liquid clay rising tens of feet into the air. A good description can be found in the novel "Campbell's Kingdom" by Hammond Innes (made into a movie starring Dirk Bogarde), which features the collapse of a dam as the result. The book is better, particularly as he was kind enough to sign my copy at my school's annual prizegiving day! That section could almost be a case study of Anderson dam, by the sound of it.
You actually need to not just scrape it to the bedrock, but fasten the foundations to that bedrock, in order for the construction to be safe amidst such clay in an earthquake area. Drilling holes into the bedrock for the ends of the rebar reinforcement of the concrete core is the generally accepted method, but that could vary depending on the local geology.
I hope I've passed on the information I learned as a child and teenager correctly, but I am not an expert, merely citing those who were. I can't check it with either of them, as they have since passed away - but if I could, I would. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have two such reliable mentors in my own family
I'm loving those visual aids Juan! Your videos are both entertaining and genuinely educational. I know a little bit about this subject, and you stated the issue very plainly. You don't even need an earthquake for a failure of this type of dam.
If I lived in the Anderson Floodplain, I'd be wanting this issue addressed with an abundance of foresight and urgency.
Although I'm not familiar with this area, it looks as though a failure of this structure could impact a population similar in size to Oroville's.
The Oroville catastrophe, with the necessary evacuation of almost 200,000 citizens, would justify the draining of Anderson Lake from the standpoint of cost alone. And if you're lucky enough to catch a dam failure in time (i.e., before people die), the cost savings could go a long way towards restoring the eco. structure of the waterway once the lake is made safe.
Pay me now, or pay me later, many lives could be in jeopardy here.
Our son was in the first year class of a grade school that was converted into a STEM middle school (6th, 7th and 8th).
It had a forward thinking program that included band, orchestra, chorus, sports, theater as well as the core curriculum of math and science.
He really came the well rounded individual he is now.
They DID just rebuild the dam at the Calaveras reservoir not far from there. Took several years, but I think they just wrapped it up last year.
I can tell you that FERC is not likely going to let this drag out much longer. Look what happened to Edenville Dam in Michigan just over a year ago after they kept dragging their feet & breaking repeated promises to make the needed repair to their dam - FERC revoked the license for that dam & ordered that huge lake drained immediately. That huge lake is still empty to this day and no work has begun on the required repairs needed to the Edenville Dam.
KCautodoctor Wow!!
Sorry Blanco, we here on the east coast have stolen your rain. I did not know I was buying prime NC swamp land in 2005. not 5 days goes buy without rain here. All fall, winter.
My water management on my property is working great. But the atv trails around me have gone to swamp. Mother nature....try to figure that one out and give us a report. Love the videos, Glad your "Almost" cleared. Keep posting.
Nc here too..... getting sick of the rain.
Why are you apologizing for "stealing" rain? There is not one damn thing you can do about where rain falls...unless you're a crazy person...even that doesn't work. Secondly, buy "low" land, risk flood...have lower land on your property, all the rain comes down out of the mountains after the ground is already saturated...from rain...at sea level... Answer=swamp....especially with clay in the ground, beavers swimming around, and any trees whatsoever.
I'm hearing, from family living in the Sacramento area, that N. Cal. at least, maybe entering a drought season. How will draining the Anderson Reservoir affect water resources in a time of drought?
I’m glad to see they’re finally going to take action on this dam. It needs to be completely replaced in my opinion.
Damn dam. Learn English.
Peter Steitz damn your a jerk
Hi Juan, Your rain may be here in Drouin, Victoria, Australia, where we have had more than twice our average February rainfall. However, having tried farming for a couple of years, I never complain about rain falling. Send her down, Hughie, is what I say. Would be nice if it would drift a bit eastward toward the part of the state where the bushfires were so fierce. The fires are now contained but not out.
Thanks again Juan..
Not that I want to be an expert on earthquakes...
Looking now for updates
Is the water from the lake used for farming in the area? There are so many dams that were built before a lot of research was done. They need to be replaced but nobody wants to do it. Nothing has gone wrong for so many years that it's assumed it never will.
Anderson Lake is the largest of ten reservoirs operated by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. It provides drinking water (and perhaps contributes to agricultural use water), and the dam provides flood control.
If you were recently questioning a possible drought soon, is now the best time to drain a lake? (Assuming it can be used as a water source and also that I understood the opening animation of the dam draining into the ocean - not another lake).
Lake Anderson is part of the water supply system. The animation was showing what might happen if the dam slumped (due to liquefaction) and failed. The dam emergency spillway and the outlet at the base of the dam both flow into Coyote Creek, which eventually discharges into San Francisco Bay.
It is always an excellent idea to build subdivisions and expensive homes, businesses, etc. at the base of a dam, especially near fault lines.
Great discussion, Juan! More information in 15 minutes than watching 5 years of mainstream media reporting, and that's a fact!
It's the same in the Northeast with the trash. Every major city has it strewn in every drain, and drainage basin. Mixed in with that are countless used syringes. I wouldn't wade into any of it if my life depended on it. Last time my buddy went fishing on an urban lake, he caught an I.V. bag. Ironically, it's all directly caused by the policies of the people who have a stranglehold on power in MA. I can see it's no different out there on the opposite coast. Sad!!
Hi Juan, thanks so much for another clear and compelling report -- the facts and the implications. Well done. Most appreciated. - Dean from Minnesota
All 8 of the reservoir dams in Santa Clara county are earth filled dams. All built about 70 years ago.Six of them are just a few miles or from San Andreas Fault. One is owned by San Francisco. Anderson has been drained before, I drove across the bottom, Coyote Creek, I use to skinny dip in it in the 1950's at our secret, gravel lined bottom, swimming hole that had fish living in the creek, and of course crawdads
“Where’s the rain” Juan groans.
“I groan back - “We got yer rain right here!”
Because of abnormally frequent rains over time, a mudslide took out two houses high on a Tennessee River bluff; along with their vehicles. If you saw it on TV, our county Fire Chief did that drone video. Thank the Lord no one was hurt! For at least 2 years, we’ll be taking the only other alternate route to town, (which adds quite a few miles) but I’m not complaining; some folks lost everything!😥Please keep us (southern West Tennessee) in your prayers too. Thank you so much!😘
But, yes, we got the rain.😩
I experienced an earthquake in 96' in Calistoga (Napa Valley). I was asleep at the time (7? AM) and was awakened by what sounded like a roaring fast approaching freight train. Just got louder and louder as it approached and then wham it hit the house like an explosion/sonic boom and then the noise started fading away as it continued on moving away. Been through several during the 50+ years that I lived in N. CA including the Loma Prieta, (Benicia at the time) but that was a new one on me!
Another great report ---- even better than professor proton... (where is the rain JB ?)
I will have to correct you on that, I think rather than aging infrastructure isn't just a US problem.
If you replace that with WORLD, then you may be onto something.
Hello CMDR - Not sure of the rest of the world but " generally " here in Australia most Gov' owned infrastructure is maintained, that said, infrastructure that has been sold off is not kept to the same standard it once was, out electric grid also suffers from greenies and lack of uprgrades, in the recent bush fires, lots of poles were destroyed, the companies had to bring in other States crews to help re-build. Maybe the damage was so large that they would have had to have done that even if the utilities were not sold off. I am surprised though when I watch US TV shows the number of rusty bridges in the background. It seems in this case CA is more concerned with the possible damage to the outlet pipe in the case of an earthquake than the whole dam failing - I wonder how many would drown if that happened??
I only care about my Country. What about you?
I am an Aussie and when i visited California in 2005, I was SHOCKED but the aging infrastructure THEN. It certainly isn't world wide.
@@agolftwittler1223 won't be that way for much longer.
Loved your explanation of earthquakes. Living in Los Angeles, I've experienced a few. It all makes sense now, thank you.
I watched those rolling earthquake waves while working at a tidewater fill area. Makes you shudder watching the ground move like waves!
So they’re being ordered to drain completely, despite the technical advice to keep the level above the outlet pipe? Did I miss something here, or has engineering gone for a Burton?
Another wonderful explanation and presentation. Thank you so much for all the content you make and the knowledge you share
Man I was looking forward to how you were going to demonstrate the rolling wave on that table!
I was in Glendale when the Sylmar quake hit in 71. What a ride! Years later, I experienced a quake and had the experience of watching the rolling motion while outside.
I was facing the source and saw the waves rapidly pass in front and below me. I still am amazed at the deformation concrete and asphalt can endure. This is some unbelievable energy.
California has allowed its infrastructure to decay for far too long. The taxpayers have given dutifully for decades, but the money has been evaporating faster than a puddle in the Mojave desert.
It's time to stop this gravy train and fix our dams. We need reservoirs.
Great video! Been a subscriber for years.
Anderson and coyote are in my backyard and I havent heard any in depth coverage on the news on the issue.
I go boating at each all summer, and they close both around mid july to drain it just in case we get an early wet winter. We are fed up! Shut it down and rebuild. Isnt that the real answer?
Shut it down June 1st and retrofit?
Thanks again, great channel.
I'm wondering, could you schedule your flood for later so it won't impact the bay area commute? :) Sounds like they could benefit from a secant cutoff wall down the core of the dam. Used to play in the Metcalf ORV park to keep the dirt skills sharp. Everytime a reservoir has been drained, there has been massive hydraulic slumping all around the shores.
TH-camr “post 10” should be hired to supervise the drains. And when emergency unclogging needs to be done.
jxdigital he’d have a blast!
Who would have imagined that a middle aged aged dirt biking professional pilot would be one of the pre-eminent YT presenters on aviation and civil structures/geotechnical problems! As a Middle aged retired civil engineer KTM500 owner I really appreciate Juan’s presentation for their excellent balance of technical and layman’s information. Keep up the great work. I would suggest that Juan should move into explaining the upcoming climate disaster we will soon face.
Excellent demo of Compression, sheer and rolling waves!
Just curious how FERC is involved since Anderson is not energy related, ie: hydroelectric? Do they regulate all dams?
Catchbucket; they are the buckstop for all water cachement in the US. FERC got involved a couple decades ago with a 12 foot berm in Northern Georgia. Since they deal with dams they also deal with earthworks and wetlands as well.
There is a small outlet hole that was passed to make hydroelectric, but is not that effective considering the size of the surrounding population. The run down "hydroelectric" shack that the FEDS control is why they are trying to push this agenda through. Plus a critical breakage of the dam would ONLY happen if is raining a lot, while the reservoir was left completely full and an earthquake happens.
Great rundown Juan. But will the Federal Government provide funds to help rebuild the dam? And also importantly (and I know because of the 2007 almost 50,000 Acre "Lick Fire" in Henry Coe State Park when I lived down there), that Anderson Reservoir was used for helicopter air-drops in that fire and many other large wildfires historically (but they probably also used [or could use] Coyote Reservoir). Henry W. Coe is the 2nd largest State Park in California, (and largest in Northern California), and home to some of the last remaining Tule Elk Herds in California. This park actually has an "open" hunting season during part of the year.
The first link (video) shows you the topography/nature of the area (although a few miles north of it) - and a really amazing video actually. When I clicked on it (just out of curiosity) it kinda blew my mind (on a 65" 4K OLED TV as a monitor). And the 2nd link (video) shows the Tule Elk in Henry Coe. tinyurl.com/wsyw2no
At one point there were almost 2000 firefighters fighting that fire. PBS did a documentary on the fire in 2007/2008 (linked below). It has some footage of the DC-10 (and other) air-drops, and claims it was "the world's only firefighting jetliner" (at that time). One thing that was cool about this episode was NASA Ames Research Center (for the first time in history) used brand new high technology to fight this fire, - a NASA Predator Drone used to image the fire digitally in several different ways to aid the firefighting effort.
The CalFire Base Camp for the Lick Fire, was at the Christmas Hill Park in Gilroy, - site of the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival (and tragic mass shooting last year).
th-cam.com/video/71XTZXRbfhg/w-d-xo.html bayareane.ws/2Vn7UYF
Once again honest no bull reporting. Thanks
Thank you, Juan. Those are old stomping grounds for me, and I did not know about those sources of water to the SF Bay. That's an odd perspective for the environmentalists... typically the fish return and flourish when the stream bed is cleaned up and kept that way and not much is made of the water flows being consistent because it has been natural to have a wet season and a dry season, and the fish don't show up for the latter.
For people who follow these kinds of situations, some of our recent flooding in Houston has created a lot of conflict between land owners (on both sides of a dam) and the feds. My take is that local governments approved development of expensive suburbs well within the likely flooding area of a flood control dam.
Upstream folks were flooded by the Corps to protect the downstream folks in the city of Houston itself, and for whom the dams were originally built to benefit. Then, fearing dam failure (or using it as an excuse), the Corps opened the flood gates of the dam and destroyed many properties downstream. Both parties sued the Feds. I wish they had sued the developers instead, but that's my prejudice.
The downstream case is ongoing.
Thank you again for making sense of nonsense.
www.texastribune.org/2019/12/17/hurricane-harvey-flood-victims-barker-addicks-reservoirs-win-lawsuit/
and
www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Hurricane-Harvey-lawsuit-upstream-downstream-win-15071315.php
I have seen the rolling wave, on land. It is very freaky!
Fantastic report as usual, thanks, Juan - I used to live near this dam and found your channel years ago when I was exploring CA dams for background! A minor interesting point: the dam outflow is very close to the watershed between the SF bay and Monterey bay: note how the water eventually flows both ways in the simulation!
@1:06
This dam subject reminds me of the Auburn Dam that no one would agree on! 😤 You are awsome!!! Keep up the great work.
Clear as mud. Really. That's what that earthen dam will become without being repaired and or updated. Great coverage!
Juan derful reporting, as usual.
ono notagain 🤣🤣🤣
Simple sample of liquefaction is the use of vibrators in concrete pouring. These long sticks that are driven into the fresh concrete vibrate and make the concrete flow into all edges of the casting and make all air bubble up.
Yep!
Wow talkin about my local here, my cousin lives right below that dam.
Thank you for this news
I would move
Thank you Juan Brown! I'm in Rough and Ready, right down the road from you!
Yeah, where's the rain?
Are these homes built on a floodplain? Is it normal for dam's to be built on top of active seismic fault that produce major earthquakes?
In California, we build everything on or near earthquake faults - because there's no place else to build.