BUREAU OF RECLAMATION INTENSIFIES SAFETY PROGRAM.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Reclamation A claim for the right to return or the right to demand the return of a security that has been previously accepted as a result of bad delivery or other irregularities in the delivery and settlement process. was established in 1902 to provide water to the arid ar·id adj. 1. Lacking moisture, especially having insufficient rainfall to support trees or woody plants: an arid climate. 2. West. Over time, the agency's mission has expanded to include recreation and environmental management rather than just building dams. The bureau's dam safety program has been intensified over the past two decades, resulting in six major repair projects in the Mid-Pacific Region since 1984. Casitas Dam Casitas Dam is a dam on Coyote Creek that forms Lake Casitas near Ojai, California. The dam is located two miles above the junction of Coyote Creek and the Ventura River. Water from the Ventura River is diverted to Lake Casitas as well. is the seventh project, said Bill Pennington, dam safety engineer for the project. Dam safety involves: Annual maintenance and operation reviews; field reviews every three years by engineers, geologists and even divers Several; any number more than two; different. Divers is a collective term used to group a number of unspecified people, objects, or acts. It is used frequently to describe property, as in divers parcels of land. who study underwater features; more comprehensive field reviews every six years that go beyond maintenance and operation and dam features to include flood and earthquake potential, historical comparisons, and any new information on a dam's construction. Casitas Dam is a 334-foot-high earth-filled structure with a crest 2,000 feet long. It is the key component of the Ventura River The Ventura River is a river in Ventura County, California. The river forms at the confluence of Matilija Creek and North Fork Matilija Creek, 15 miles upstream from the Pacific Ocean. Project, providing irrigation irrigation, in agriculture, artificial watering of the land. Although used chiefly in regions with annual rainfall of less than 20 in. (51 cm), it is also used in wetter areas to grow certain crops, e.g., rice. water for 6,000 acres of mostly avocados and oranges and drinking water drinking water supply of water available to animals for drinking supplied via nipples, in troughs, dams, ponds and larger natural water sources; an insufficient supply leads to dehydration; it can be the source of infection, e.g. leptospirosis, salmonellosis, or of poisoning, e.g. for an area with 60,000 residents. The bureau rates Casitas Dam a ``high hazard'' given what could happen downstream if the structure fails. The federal study recently completed for the project estimated that a dam failure could send a wall of water more than 30 feet high along the seven-mile stretch from the dam to the mouth of the Ventura River in a little less than two hours. Property damage resulting from dam failure is estimated to exceed $430 million, which doesn't include replacing the dam or long-range costs due to loss of the water supply. An estimated 14,000 people live in the potential flood area. Deaths could range from less than 10 to more than 400, depending on the failure, warning time and time of day. |
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