CALIFORNIA'S STATE WATER PROJECT

[Music] [Applause] e on October 12th 1961 Governor Edmund G Brown detonated a dynamite blast in the Feather River Canyon a few miles above oraville California that blast moved only a few tons of Earth and Rock and yet it marked the beginning one of the greatest engineering Enterprises of all time the construction of Oroville Dam key feature of the California state Water Project today from that modest beginning Earth and rock are being moved at a rate unequal in construction [Music] history [Music] from the snowcapped Sierra in plumis County to the sunbaked slopes of the Tahachapi mountains in the South projects are taking shape pipelines street through the hills canals are carved through the desert Wasteland forests of construction steel that will will become Mammoth pumping plants grow from the landscape high in the air welders and Steel Workers fabricate towering surge [Applause] tanks men work in mck and dapas in the Gloom of tunnels and the dust and heat of deserts hour by hour dams rise toward the skyline and huge machines Bellow complain and chew up the Earth with the approach of Darkness great Banks of mercury vapor lights come to life and the work goes on 7 days a week [Music] but let us stop for a moment why must all this be what is the reason for this great construction activity throughout the state and how can an investment which will eventually pass the $2 billion Mark really be justified the answer lies in a single word water water to supply the thir lands and cities of California as of this moment California has some 17 million people by 1975 only a decade away reliable estimates place our population at more than 27 million 27 million human beings require large amounts of water they drink it cook with it and bathe in it they water their lawns and Gardens and irrigate their fields with it and if there is any left over may even swim launch boats or water ski on it it has been calculated that each of these 27 million people will require 1 acre foot of water per year an acre foot of water is [Music] 325,000 Northern 1/3 of the state while 70% of the Water Need is in the semiarid southern 2/3 furthermore 80% of the precipitation which supplies this water occurs during the 5 months from November to March causing floods and extensive damage to Northern California cities and farms in short California's water supply although Bountiful is not available where it is most most needed or when it is most needed State Engineers have designed a plan to correct this the 1960 passage of the burns Porter act cleared the path for a water conservation program of the greatest magnitude ever undertaken at state level this plan will store the Surplus water of the North during periods of heavy runoff and then through a system of res reservoirs canals and pumping plants redistribute it to the deficient Central and Southern areas the water of the Feather River now wasting into the ocean at more than 4 and 1 12 million acre feet per year will be put to work deserts will be irrigated electrical power generated and water sports recreational areas provided Geographic ically the state Water Project begins on the upper tributaries of the feather river in the high sieras here five small dams and reservoirs will be constructed the first of these Frenchman Dam on the little Last Chance Creek was completed in 1961 the Placid Waters with their easy limit of rainbow trout have made it one of the most popular fishing spots in California the second Antelope Valley Dam and Reservoir has been completed and access roads are now open to the public a contract has been awarded for the third one Grizzly Valley to be completed in 1966 the other two reservoirs are Abby bridge and Dixie Refuge to be constructed later moving Downstream from The High Country we arrive at oraville Dam backbone of the entire Water Project here engineers and construction workers are engaged in placing the 78 million cubic yards of clay and dredger tailings which comprise the main body of the giant [Music] structure [Music] along the Feather River Southwest of oraville a bucket wheel excavator digs into the endless piles of dredger tailings at a rate of 5700 tons per hour about the same amount an energetic man with a shovel might dig in 2 years a 30t wheel carrying eight buckets discharges material onto a conveyor belt from there it's conveyed to another series of belts and eventually to the train loading stockpile nearly a mile [Applause] away [Music] [Applause] the 12m hall from the excavation area to the dam site is accomplished by four specially designed trains of 40 Gondola cars each each car carries 110 tons of embankment material trains are powered by two 2500 horsepower diesel electric locomotives working as a single unit 10 Gondola cars are loaded simultaneously from The perious Fill or dredger tailing stockpile the loading of an entire 40c car train takes only 14 minutes the clay or impervious fill material from another excavation area is scraped off the Surface by Earth movers each hauling 80 [Music] tons it's dumped onto a system of conveyor belts and distributed into 10 train loading hoverers Hall trains are switched between the p and impervious fill loading stations as the need for material [Music] dictates across the river near the dam site a giant rotary dumper seizes and inverts two railroad cars without the necessity of uncoupling them from the [Applause] train this operation takes place every 80 Seconds 24 hours a [Music] day from the rotary dumper the material is carried to a tri traveling stacker this machine stockpiles the material over a tunnel where it's released onto still another conveyor belt which carries it up to the 1,000 ton capacity truck loading Hopper this Hopper with its four quick open Gates loads 2 97 1/2 ton bottom dump tractor trailers at a time [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the material is transported directly to the placement area on top of the dam embankment The perious Fill material is placed in 24in layers or lifts the impervious in 10-in lifts the impervious fill is then compacted by 100t pneumatic compactors in the left abutment of oraville dam construction has started on a large underground machine Hall which will house a power plant of six units three be reversible to pump water back into the reservoir for reuse for power generation to meet peaking demands the total dependable power generated at the dam will be 600 megaw thermalito diversion Dam 4 miles Downstream from the main dam is now under construction and will be completed in September 1965 this Dam will be used to maintain tail water for oraville power plant and to divert water into the thermalito power canal and then to the thermalito PowerHouse to be located 4 mil west of orille this enables the water from the orille reservoir to actually energize two power plants combined they will produce wattage requirements for a city of 1 million people with the completion of oraville and thermalito dams salmon and steel head will be unable to reach their natural spawning grounds in the upper feather region therefore a fish barrier Dam has been constructed half a mile Downstream from thermalito Dam Upstream bound fish are diverted through a series of ladders into a large holding [Applause] tank having arrived at this stage they while away their hours trying to escape until such time as they are transferred to tank trucks and transported Upstream of the dam to continue their spawning [Music] run [Music] a mechanical sweep lifts the fish out of the main tank and into a smaller tank containing a mild antithetic this theoretically at least causes them to become passive and dormant while they're swept onto the conveyor belt and into the tank truck [Music] [Applause] [Music] future plans include construction of a fish hatchery to be located on the West Bank of the river slightly Downstream from the barrier Dam another part of the oraville complex requires construction of one of the highest suspension bridges in the United States the Middle Fork Bridge which will span one arm of the reservoir on the oraville Quincy Road Towers 627 ft above stream bent with a of 1,700 ft from oraville Dam the water will flow down the natural channels of the feather and Sacramento Rivers until it reaches the Delta at Italian slooh it will be picked up by the Delta pumping plant and pumped into the California Aqueduct the main north south artery of the Water Project initial excavation work on the Delta intake Channel and pumping plant site has been completed and construction of the pumping plant structure is now [Applause] underway this pumping plant will utilize 11 pumps to lift the water 244 ft into the aqueduct at a maximum rate of 10,300 cubic feet per second the South Bay Aqueduct branching from the California Aqueduct and servicing Alam and Santa Clara counties is on schedule and water deliveries are already being made to some areas of the Livermore Valley until such time as the Delta pumping plant and the North sanin Division of the California Aqueduct become operational water for the South Bay is being pumped from the Delta Mendota Canal another Branch the North Bay Aqueduct destined to Service Napa and salano counties is still in the planning stages from the Sacramento Delta the California Aqueduct will flow South along the west side of the sanin valley to a point near Los BOS here another giant Dam the San Louis is under construction by the Bureau of Reclamation although somewhat lower than Orville's 770 ft the San Louis Dam will require almost as much fill 74 million cubic yards as compared to Orville's 78 million construction here also differs from oraville in that the entire dam is made made of clay or impervious fill impervious material is excavated from clay beds near the dam site by another Behemoth machine a bucket wheel excavator with 10 2 and 1/2 y buckets on a wheel 30 ft in diameter 100 ton bottom dump tractor trailer units are loaded at a rate of 1 every 40 [Music] seconds the Upstream face of the dam is covered with a layer of heavy rock or rip wrap the rock for the rip wrap section of the the dam is handled by a 15 yard all electrically operated Power Shovel which loads one of the 67 ton tractor trailers in just three [Music] [Music] scoops finally Crest height at San Louis will be 320 ft the length 18,300 nearly 3 and 1 12 miles from St Louis Dam the California Aqueduct continues South to mile 18 pumping plant here six pumping units now under construction will lift the water 120 ft to provide the necessary elevation for the water to Flow by gravity South to Kettleman City before Aqueduct construction can proceed on South from San Louis to the Tahachapi a major engineering problem called subsidence must be overcome much of the soil and subsoil in this area consists of loosely compacted material which when water is placed on it tends to compact or settle as much as 10 ft or more the problems of constructing canals or pipelines through such an area are readily apparent to combat this phenomenon Engineers are prec consolidating the area of subsidence by ponding water along the aqueduct right of way for one or two years in advance of construction by doing so all subsidence and compaction will take place before construction thus avoiding possible later disastrous effects as the aquaduct approaches the Tahachapi range south of Bakersfield the going gets tougher before the water can be pumped into Castaic and Paris reservoirs centers of the area of need it must be lifted an additional 1,900 ft over the mountains to accomplish this pumps surge tanks and pipelines larger than any yet known must be designed and constructed initial surveying and access roads have been completed and a pilot boore for tunnel number four is in progress on the southern slopes of the tahachi the aqueduct passes through Cottonwood power plant and then splits into two branches the West Branch will terminate at cic Reservoir in Los Angeles County and will service the greater Los Angeles area the east branch continues on South through pear Blossom pumping plant and into Cedar Springs Reservoir in San Bernardino County from there the water will be dropped through Devil's Canyon power plant eventually to terminate in Paris Reservoir in Riverside County and so in 1972 the water originating in the upper feather Canyon 600 M North will be available for distribution as far south as San Diego today our population is 17 million by 1975 it will be at least 27 million beyond that we dare not speculate but there is little evidence to forecast any Mass Exodus from the state or of those already here discontinuing the practice of raising children it has always been in the responsibility of Men of Integrity to provide for their heirs as their ancestors provided for them in this second half of the 20th century the obligations widen in scope from family to community and even to Statewide levels the responsibility for a continuing supply of fresh water for future Generations is ours let all of us cooperate in meeting that responsibility with AAG ination and courage let us make sure that our children's children do not look back in sorrow and say that we arve too late with too little or that our planning did not match the magnitude of the [Music] problem [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]