It may seen ironic at first glance that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation are fasttracking a $900-million effort to address flood-risk and dam-safety issues at Folsom Dam, located near Sacramento, Calif., amid a headline-making, ongoing drought. But project officials are looking at the long term. “Local folks know that what we have is feast or famine with precipitation and the snowpack,” says Drew Lessard, area manager for the Bureau of Reclamation’s mid-Pacific region. “Yes, we have periods of drought, but it could turn over this year and go into a period of flood control for several years.” For years, both federal agencies had been making efforts to protect California’s capital, Sacramento, which lies in the crosshairs of a potential severe flood. In the mid-2000s, planning to strengthen the dam for a 200-year-storm event, the bureau considered installing a spillway plug, and the Corps considered enlarging the gates, to redirect water flows.
“For various reasons, we had challenges facing [both] of our missions,so we ended up getting together in 2005 and formulating this joint federal project,” says Lessard. “This is the first time we’ve put resources together.” With six submerged Tainter gates and an auxiliary spillway that will work in conjunction with the existing dam gates, the Joint Federal Project (JFP) addressed both missions while shaving about $500 million from the budget, Lessard estimates. The agencies shortened to 2017 the original 2021 deadline for the JFP in a commitment to Congress, says Sgt. Jeremy Nelson, a Corps quality-assurance representative.