Old dam on Stanislaus River to be removed

ANGELS CAMP
October 5, 2012 8:03am

A timber-faced, steel-buttress dam, built in 1962 on the upper arm of the Stanislaus River, about 12 miles east of Angels Camp, is being removed by its owner, Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

The Stanislaus Afterbay Dam is located on Bureau of Reclamation land within the New Melones Lake Area and is part of the Spring Gap-Stanislaus Project.

It was originally built to buffer the flows from the Stanislaus Powerhouse. But the dam is submerged when flows in the Stanislaus River are greater than 800 cubic feet per second, and it has been damaged by accumulated debris, including logs and tree branches. Further it’s been determined that the dam poses a public safety hazard, the Bureau of Reclamation says.

Removal of the dam is expected to occur between Oct. 20 and Nov. 4, with crews working day and night.

The work will require extensive trucking with traffic controls along Camp Nine Road and possible traffic delays of up to 30 minutes, the Bureau says.