isabella dam Archives

Isabella Dam construction project lauded by national award

June 11, 2024

• by SJV Water

The United States Army Corps of Engineers received a national award for safety, innovation and resourcefulness for its design and execution of the reconstruction of the Isabella Dam complex, according to a press release from the Army Corps. The $650-million project that succeeded in taking Isabella Dam off the Army Corps’ list as one of…

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Repairs to Isabella Dam power plant completed; Kern River flows to ramp back up

January 7, 2024

• by Lois Henry

Repairs to a damaged tunnel inside the power plant at the base of Isabella Dam were completed Saturday, just seven days after the project began, according to an attorney for Water Audit California, a public interest group suing to keep water in the Kern River. Releases from the dam had been reduced to about 100…

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Army Corps installs pump to handle unexpected seepage from Isabella Dam

October 9, 2023

• by Lois Henry

For the first time in six months, Gerald Wenstrand doesn’t have a river flowing through the pasture at his ranch situated just below the Auxiliary Dam at Lake Isabella. The Army Corps of Engineers, which owns and operates Isabella Dam, finally installed an extra pump to move seepage coming through the base of the dam…

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Army Corps was unprepared for amount of seepage from Isabella Dam that is now swamping residents

September 18, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Landowners and residents who live in front of the Auxiliary Dam at Lake Isabella are being swamped by “seepage” coming through the earthen dam that is ruining septic systems, causing sinkholes, clogging the area with weeds and breeding swarms of mosquitoes. They’ve tried working with the Army Corps of Engineers, which recently rebuilt the Auxiliary…

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Isabella Dam officially off the No. 1 “at risk” dam list, what will that mean for downstream users?

July 20, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officially lowered the risk level of Isabella Dam from “highest urgency and risk” to “low urgency” on Thursday. Though an Army Corps spokesman said this means Isabella has returned to “normal operations,” it’s unclear what exactly that will mean for downstream Kern River irrigators as we grind through summer…

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Kern River flows to drop again after noise detected in Isabella Dam outlet tunnel

June 26, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Outflows from Lake Isabella into the Kern River will be cut to zero starting at 1 a.m. Tuesday so dam operators can check the source of “funny noises” coming from the outlet tunnel, according to Kern River Watermaster Mark Mulkay and an Army Corps of Engineers press release. “They’ve been hearing funny noises in the…

dams • Floods

“Vibration” in Isabella Dam power plant causes temporary halt of Kern River outflows

April 25, 2023

• by Lois Henry

The Army Corps of Engineers will temporarily drop outflows from Isabella Dam to zero starting at midnight Wednesday so the power plant at the dam can shut down, according to Kern River Watermaster Mark Mulkay. Once the power plant, run by Isabella Partners, is down, water will be routed through the dam’s gates and outflows…

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Isabella Dam safety project done just in time for record snowpack

April 4, 2023

• by Lois Henry

Speaker after speaker on Tuesday noted the years long construction project to increase safety on Isabella Dam was completed this past October – just in time. With a snowpack at 422% of normal, the reservoir is expected to hit its full capacity of 568,000 acre feet, and then some. Water content in Kern River watershed…

NEWS

Isabella Dam construction project lauded by national award

Repairs to Isabella Dam power plant completed; Kern River flows to ramp back up

Army Corps installs pump to handle unexpected seepage from Isabella Dam

Army Corps was unprepared for amount of seepage from Isabella Dam that is now swamping residents

Isabella Dam officially off the No. 1 “at risk” dam list, what will that mean for downstream users?

Kern River flows to drop again after noise detected in Isabella Dam outlet tunnel

“Vibration” in Isabella Dam power plant causes temporary halt of Kern River outflows

Isabella Dam safety project done just in time for record snowpack

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