California's infrastructure is in truly dire shape. We saw how bad things got at the Oroville Dam last weekend, and now crews up there are preparing for another huge storm this weekend.
We've learned how neglected the important dam is, and we've learned that officials ignored warnings about the emergency spillway 12 years ago.
To make things worse, the dam's flood-control manual hasn't been updated since 1970. The manual uses data and projections so old they don't account for two of the biggest floods to ever hit the area.
There's no indication that the outdated manual contributed to the Oroville crisis, but it does shed even more light on the state's horrible management and infrastructure.
Most of the dams and their manuals were designed decades ago by engineers who didn't have computers. Many of the licenses and documents that detail dam operations don't take into account advances in hydrology, meteorology, and engineering.
Why haven't they updated them?! Is it a money thing? Because water infrastructure is something we should actually be spending money on, not high speed rail and lawyers for illegals.
The majority of California's dam manuals in haven't been updated since at least the 1980s. Some of them are so old that their pages include charts drawn by hand in pen.
They might as well be cave paintings!
We've also learned that engineers at the Oroville Dam had been making shoddy repairs for years with a "patch and pray" method, putting cement in the cracks and trowling it over.
It's clear that water infrastructure needs to be well-funded and paid attention to. Why can't we prioritize this, Jerry Brown?!
This is what our tax dollars should be going to, not your crazy train!