GRASS VALLEY, Calif. July 10, 2024 – During today’s NID Board meeting, a PG&E representative stated the repairs for Spaulding Powerhouse #1, Spaulding Powerhouse #2, and the South Yuba Pipe are on track.
For Powerhouse #1, the crumbled columns have been replaced with a steel-cladded wall and the welding is completed on one of the two discharge horns – the second horn will be repaired after irrigation season is over, late fall or winter. Next steps are removing the construction equipment and debris, waiting for the grouting to cure, reseating the pressure relief valve into place (it has been ‘dry-set’ already,) filling the tunnel bringing water to the powerhouse and then begin testing of the repairs. If all goes well and the repairs hold, water should start to flow by the end of the month. The powerhouse was taken offline in early March, after the discharge horn cladding failed and two columns holding up the floor of the powerhouse crumbled.
Spaulding Powerhouse #2’s wicket gates have been repaired and once the South Yuba Pipe is in service again, water can begin to flow through it as well, if the repairs hold. The earliest any water from Powerhouse #2 could be flowing into the Deer Creek system and Scotts Flat is August 24, if the repair deadline for the South Yuba Pipe holds. Powerhouse #2 has been offline since late 2023.
Repairs on the South Yuba Pipe, the portion of the South Yuba Canal immediately below Spaulding and owned by PG&E, are proceeding on schedule, according to PG&E. The concrete footings for the pipe are complete, the cradles to hold the pipe in place are being installed this week. A heavy-lift helicopter has been scheduled to ferry the new pipe segments to the repair site from the staging area. The pipeline was damaged by a rockslide in early February 2024.
There are no backup plans in case the repairs fail to fix the damages. PG&E will provide an update at NID’s next Board meeting on July 24.
Meanwhile, both Rollins and Scotts Flat reservoirs are being drawn down, as well as water from Lower Scotts Flat being pumped into the canals to keep rotating canal outages to a minimum. Rollins Reservoir volume dropped by 11,100 acre feet* in June and Scotts Flat Reservoir by 5,200 acre feet.
During the first nine days of July, Scotts Flat dropped by 1,800 acre feet and Rollins by 3,700 acre feet.
NID has announced the need to implement short-term water outages for a limited number of canals. Water will be temporarily cut off on a three-day rotation to a limited area, beginning July 11, 2024. For information about affected canals, check NID’s Irrigation Water Outages.
*11,100 acre feet of water is the same volume than 5.3 times the volume of the Great Pyramid in Giza or 5,477 Olympic-size swimming pools or 104 Titanic ships. [conversion calculation courtesy weird units converter, created by Steven Wooding.]