Inspectors Had Warned About Dam’s Gates

The federal government did not act on inspectors’ warnings that Folsom Dam spillway gates needed work, but officials said Thursday that they do not believe neglect of maintenance caused a gate failure.

One of eight steel spillway gates buckled Monday as it was being opened at the 40-year-old dam, dumping what will amount to about 400,000 acre-feet of water--or nearly half the lake--into the American River.

The water would have supplied 2 million people for a year, but officials said good supplies from a wet winter mean no shortages this year.

On Thursday, moments after a news briefing at the dam, a small boat used by lifeguards drifted into the whirlpool near the broken gate and smashed onto the spillway below. There were no injuries.

Earlier, two lifeguards who had been in the aluminum craft leaped into the water and swam to safety after they were unable to start their motor and the boat headed toward the gate.

“We lost the boat, but we didn’t lose the people,” said state parks official Bruce Kranz.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation inspectors spotted corrosion in 1988, bureau officials said. Inspectors recommended that workers repaint the gates and check the strength of bolts. Inspection reports show they repeated the recommendations in 1991 and 1994, officials said.

Inspectors classified the work as needed to prevent or reduce further damage or preclude possible operational failure, said officials.

The Reclamation Bureau has acknowledged a shortage of maintenance funds for work such as that recommended by inspectors.

“We’ve had it [work on the failed gate] on our priority list since the 1988 exam, but there’s been a lot of maintenance items pushed out over the years,” said bureau safety engineer Gary Egan.

The bureau said it has carried out essential maintenance.

“I don’t believe we neglected important maintenance,” Egan said.

The gate was used more frequently than other gates at the dam, but officials are uncertain whether that contributed to the failure.