News Release Archive

Reclamation to Hold Public Information Meeting for Stony Gorge Dam Corrective Action Study

Media Contact: Jeffrey McCracken, 916-978-5100, 09/14/2004 22:14

For Release: September 14, 2004

The Bureau of Reclamation will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, September 22, 2004, at 7 p.m. at the Elk Creek Elementary School in Elk Creek, California, to provide information about a Corrective Action Study (CAS) under way at Stony Gorge Dam.

Under Reclamation's Safety of Dams Program, dams are routinely evaluated. Risk studies performed in 2001 identified a need for structural improvements at Stony Gorge Dam to better enable the facility to withstand seismic loading during an earthquake.

Located about 20 miles west of the town of Willows, Stony Gorge Dam is a 139-foot high buttress style dam that regulates flows along the lower reaches of Stony Creek and stores about 50,000 acre-feet of water for irrigation purposes. About 300 people live in and around the nearby town of Elk Creek. Crops irrigated include wheat, alfalfa, hay, sorghum, olives, nuts, citrus fruits, and irrigated pasture. The dam is part of the Orland Project, one of the oldest in Reclamation. Preliminary surveys were made on the Stony Gorge site as early as 1909. Construction began in 1926 and was completed in 1928.

For further information or for special assistance to attend the meeting site, please call David Jones at 916-978-5108 or contact him via e-mail at: dajones@mp.usbr.gov.

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