San Clemente Dam on California’s Carmel River after rainfall. Captions and Photo source: NOAA
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Monterey County supervisors gave their OK for the largest dam removal project in state history. The San Clemente Dam is eighteen miles from the coast in the Carmel Valley…
San Clemente Dam removal project to start by August, Monterey Herald
The long-awaited San Clemente Dam removal project is scheduled to begin this summer after California American Water earned the final go-ahead…
NOAA and California Officials Agree to Remove Large Concrete Dam to Eliminate Safety Hazard and Restore Steelhead Habitat, NOAA
NOAA joined state and local officials in a pledge to remove the San Clemente Dam to eliminate a threat to the lives and property of those along California’s lower Carmel River, and help restore the watershed for federally protected steelhead trout.
The 89-year old, 106-foot high dam, which once helped bring water to residents of Monterey County, is at risk of failing during a significant earthquake or flood. Sediment has been building up behind the dam for years, making it a hazard for those living below it and almost useless as a water storage reservoir. If the dam were to fail, an estimated 2½ million cubic yards of sediment and more than 40 million gallons of water could rush downstream with potentially disastrous consequences. The dam removal will also aid in the recovery of steelhead trout by opening up access to more than 25 square miles of spawning and rearing habitat. Steelhead in Carmel River were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1997…
San Clemente Dam Removal & Carmel River Reroute Project
On The Elwha, A New Life When The Dam Breaks, Washington State (Uploaded 09-18-2011)
Nobody figured the largest dam removal project ever attempted in the U.S. was going to be easy, or fast. The nation’s largest and most ambitious dam removal will begin this month, when workers start demolishing two antique dams on Washington state’s Elwha River…
Tracking Sediments’ Fate In Largest-Ever Dam Removal (Uploaded 03-08-2013)
Scientists tracking the aftermath of the largest dam removal in U.S. history say the dismantling of a dam in northwestern Washington state has unleashed about 34 million cubic yards of sediment and debris that built up for more than a century…
