Impacts of Building a Dam
Disasters
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
- Soren Keirkegaard, philosopher
Most of us in California have felt the strangeness of our feet shaking against our will, while fear watches walls tremble. Earthquakes are a fact of life in California. No one knows exactly when they will occur. They happen even on earthquake faults that have long been inactive.
This map shows how frequent earth quakes are in California. 316 earthquakes are shown in California over the this one week period; many along fault lines near the proposed dam site.Click here to see recent earthquakes. Map courtesy of the USGS.
We admit that there is only a slight chance of an earthquake damaging the dam, or of an earthquake causing a large land mass to fall into the water behind a new dam, causing possible flooding. Some of us are still concerned that we as a society often plan our communities backwards, or use a crisis to plan at all.
"There are several faults that are located within the Planning Area, as depicted in Figure 3, Geological Hazards. The predominant faults include the Tularcitos Fault, the Miller Creek Fault, the Blue Rock Fault, the Church Creek Fault, and the Cachagua Fault…" The Cachagua Planning Area, a community
plan for the Cachagua Valley area
In extended drought years, when the dam is empty (known as "revert" conditions), new users would be using the same water supply we have now. This also applies to drought reserve: many more users, but not new water during extended droughts. We could still have a drought or a flood that may expand the flood plain.
