A 1975 earthquake near Oroville, Calif., halted construction of nearby Auburn Dam on the American River’s North Fork, and the project lingered in a vegetative state for 33 years. On Dec. 2, the dam died when the State Water Resources Control Board revoked the project’s water rights. The dam project was authorized in 1965 for the Central Valley Project with an estimated cost of $282 million, but it would cost $6 billion to $10 billion to complete now, says a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation official.
BuRec held rights for 2.5 million acre-ft of water in connection with Auburn Dam. Following the revocation, three applications for water rights in the watershed are pending with the water resources board, says William L. Rukeyser, board spokesman. Sacramento Municipal Utilities District has filed two applications for a total of 27,200 acre-ft and San Joaquin County is requesting 147,000 acre-ft. All are for appropriative rights, Rukeyser says.