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E-mail StoryNew Isabella Dam would cost millions
| Friday, Aug 17 2007 9:35 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Aug 17 2007 9:41 PM
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers doesn't know how much it will cost to fix Isabella Dam, but it does know how much it would cost to replace it.
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If the dam can't be fixed but must be replaced, it will run about $782 million.
But that's a worst-case scenario, said Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield.
McCarthy got a briefing from the Corps at the dam on Thursday.
"I'm just trying to stay on top of this so we don't miss any deadlines," he said.
The estimate was based on what it's costing to rebuild Success Dam near Porterville, McCarthy said.
Seepage and concerns about the impact of a break, which could be caused by an earthquake on the fault line that runs below the dam, led the Corps to limit the amount of water behind the dam to 63 percent of its level in April 2006.
McCarthy said the real cost isn't known yet, but it will be up to him and Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, to get the funding needed every year until the project is done.
"Every year, we've got our jobs cut out for us," McCarthy said.
The Corps also said construction is estimated to take until 2016, two years later than had been previously announced, Bakersfield City Manager Alan Tandy said in a memo Friday.
Florn Core, Bakersfield's water resources manager, was at the meeting and said it wasn't all about doom, gloom and a huge price tag.
"It was a positive meeting," Core said. "We know we have a problem."