Success Dam

Success Dam
Success Dam is located in California
Success Dam
Location of Success Dam in California
CountryUnited States
LocationPorterville, California
Coordinates36°03′38″N 118°55′09″W / 36.06056°N 118.91917°W / 36.06056; -118.91917
Construction began1958; 66 years ago (1958)
Opening date1961; 63 years ago (1961)
Dam and spillways
Type of damEmbankment
ImpoundsTule River
Height156 ft (48 m)[1]
Length3,490 ft (1,060 m)[1]
Elevation at crest652.5 ft (198.9 m)[1]
Dam volume5,560,000 cu yd (4,250,000 m3)[1]
Reservoir
CreatesLake Success
Total capacity82,300 acre⋅ft (101,500,000 m3)[1]
Catchment area393 sq mi (1,020 km2)[1]
Surface area2,450 acres (990 ha)[1]

Success Dam is a dam across the Tule River in Tulare County, California in the United States. Serving mainly for flood control and irrigation, the dam is an earthen embankment structure 156 feet (48 m) high and 3,490 feet (1,060 m) long. The dam lies about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Porterville and impounds Lake Success, which has a capacity of 82,300 acre-feet (0.1015 km3).[1]

The dam was initially authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944 as part of an extensive system of dams and levees to provide flood protection in the Tulare Lake basin of the southern San Joaquin Valley.[2] The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began construction of Success Dam in 1958 and finished in 1961, with the official dedication on May 18, 1962.[3]

The USACE found in 1999 that the alluvial deposits that form the foundations of the dam were unstable and that the dam would be at a high risk of failure in the event of an earthquake. In 2006, new regulations were passed that limited long-term water storage in the reservoir to 28,800 acre-feet (0.0355 km3), 35% of capacity.[4] A proposed $500 million project would increase the thickness of the dam by 350 feet (110 m) so that it could better withstand a quake in the region.[5]

In August 2019, the 116th Congress of the United States enacted PL-116-41 which said (in part) that the Success Dam in Tulare County, California, shall hereafter be known and designated as the ‘‘Richard L. Schafer Dam’’. [6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Success Dam (SCC)". California Data Exchange Center. California Department of Water Resources. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  2. ^ "Flood Damage Reduction Technical Appendix" (PDF). Upper San Joaquin Basin Storage Investigation: Initial Alternatives Information Report. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. June 2005. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  3. ^ Friend, Edwin R.; Bailey, B.J.; Prochaska, Adam B. "Field Investigations for Design of a Grout Curtain at Success Dam for the United States Army Corps of Engineers" (PDF). Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  4. ^ "Lower Tule Irrigation District Tule River Intertie Project". FONSI-09-73. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. December 2009. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  5. ^ Chandler, Jenna (2009-07-09). "Corps settles on potential remedy for Success Dam". Recorder Online. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  6. ^ "An Act to rename the Success Dam in Tulare County, California, as the Richard L. Schafer Dam" (PDF). www.congress.gov.