$42-Million Retrofit of Casitas Dam Mostly Done

Contractors retrofitting Casitas Dam have nearly tripled the thickness of the massive structure since they began rebuilding last August, and say that the $42-million project is as earthquake-safe as it will be at its final construction this summer.

Officials say the clang of equipment and din of big trucks roaring up Casitas Vista Road are, with a few exceptions, over for area residents, who have complained about the construction.

In addition, officials said they will work on communicating with local communities to avoid confusion about false alarms, such as one last month when an emergency siren system accidentally issued warnings for residents to flee for higher ground.

“We’re all keenly aware of the weakness and we’re working it out,” said Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley). “But [the money spent on the dam] is money well spent.”

President Clinton’s final proposed budget includes $5.5 million to put the finishing touches on the project.

Officials have sent the malfunctioning siren software back to its programmer, Acoustic Technology Inc. in Atlanta, to pinpoint the problem. In addition, Ventura city officials are meeting with members of the Westside Community Council to map out escape routes in case an earthquake destroys area streets and it’s not possible to travel by car.

The siren system is expected to remain after the dam is completed, Ventura City Councilwoman Donna DePaola said.

Government officials--including Gallegly, DePaola and Supervisor Kathy Long--gathered Friday near the dam, which is topped by a boggy soup of mud after the recent heavy rains, to boost the project and brief news media on its progress.

Below them were the cities of Casitas Springs and Ventura, which the dam should now protect from a rush of 200,000 acre-feet of water if a magnitude 6.5 quake, the worst-case scenario, were to strike.

At the dam, which blocks Coyote Creek to create Lake Casitas north of Ventura, the Bureau of Reclamation has widened the top wall from 40 feet to 110 feet, and placed 12 functioning wells within the block of earth. The wells help fortify the dam by sucking in water from its otherwise loose, unstable soil.

Once an earthen berm is built on 10 acres below the dam--compared to a chair propped against a doorknob to provide resistance--the wells will be removed. Until then, the wells keep the dam as strong as it will be once it is finished at the end of summer, resident engineer Matt Sheskier of the Bureau of Reclamation said.

“To date, the contractor has accomplished what it set out to do,” Sheskier said.

The relatively dry winter has helped keep the project on track, though the last couple days of rain will shut it down for the week, said Neil VanAmburg, project manager with the Montana-based contractor, Barnard Construction Co.

“We only have about 10 more days of nuisance” to area residents, VanAmburg said. The builder will have to bring in truckloads of gravel to smooth across the top of the dam, and the completed berm.

A survey of western dams conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1994 and 1995 revealed Casitas Dam was more vulnerable to strong ground motion and liquefaction, in which soil behaves like pudding, than previously believed.

About 14,000 residents live in the Casitas Springs and Ventura areas downstream of the dam, officials said.

“The concern was we get up to the safety factor as soon as was humanly possible,” Gallegly said. “There was some level of inconvenience. However, the issue of safety had to prevail.”