US City to Replace Seismically Unsafe Dam

San Francisco Planning Department and Public Utilities Commission in the US has approved a plan to replace Calaveras Dam, which is in an active fault zone and is said to have structural problems.

The new dam will replace the 1920s-built dam, which was identified as seismically unsafe.

The new dam will have a height of 210ft and is expected to restore the water storage levels of the Calaveras Reservoir by at least 31 billion gallons.

The $434m Calaveras Dam project is part of San Francisco’s $4.6bn regional Water System Improvement Program to upgrade ageing pipelines, tunnels and reservoirs in the Hetch Hetchy regional water system.

The project includes additional water releases, new fish passage projects and improved watershed management monitoring.