Extra Quake Study Funds Asked for Dam

A plan to spend an additional $50,000 to investigate earthquake damage at Pacoima Dam will be considered by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today.

The request for funds comes one year after the county signed a contract with San Francisco-based Morrison Knudsen Corp. for $351,700 to analyze the stability of the dam after the Northridge earthquake.

The $51,645 in additional money the board will consider awarding to Morrison Knudsen would be used to determine if additional repairs are necessary to fortify the left abutment of the dam.

The dam is situated in Angeles National Forest above the San Fernando Valley.

In a letter to the Board of Supervisors, Harry Stone, head of the county’s Department of Public Works, said the additional work on the dam was not anticipated at the time the previous contract was signed.

“Several tasks included in the additional investigations and analyses require levels of effort and cost beyond that anticipated during negotiations for the contract,” Stone wrote in a report requesting authority from supervisors to award the extra money.

The additional work includes making maps of the dam, field inspection and consulting during exploratory drilling, grouting and drain-hole drilling concurrently performed by the county, according to the report.

Stone told the supervisors that the county will attempt to convince the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse the county for the extra repairs.

If the county fails to receive FEMA funding, the work will be funded using money from the county’s Flood Control District budget.