Repairs have been completed to the Bear River Canal. PG&E completed repairs on Thursday and got permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to resume the flow of the water. Water flow was restored at 3 p.m. Friday, and will be gradually increased.
“By Monday, the canal will be fully meeting the needs of the water agencies and their customers,” said Denny Boyles, a PG&E spokesman.
Aerial photo of the completed repairs on the Bear River Canal.
On Thursday, crews removed a temporary bypass that has been in use since May 27. Final inspections of the canal were performed Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.
The news was announced at a meeting of the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA). Since a landslide damaged the canal on April 19, PG&E has been working with the
PCWA and the Nevada Irrigation District (NID) to help provide water to their customers.
Throughout the repair project, PG&E has worked in coordination with the local water agencies as well as other agencies and officials in Placer County.
The company originally said the bypass would be in place by the first week of June, and the full repairs by mid-June. In reporting on the news that the canal was ready to go back in service, the Sacramento Bee noted that “PG&E has been ahead of
its projected schedule for the repair.”
Crews worked 24-hours a day, 7 days a week to meet, and in many cases beat, repair schedules. Michael Jones, acting vice president of power generation for PG&E, said that success was due to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the project.
“From the beginning, we said we wanted to restore the canal as safely and as quickly as possible,” Jones said. “PG&E recognized that the canal was the main source of water for these agencies and their customers. We are very pleased that we were able to restore the canal two weeks ahead of
schedule, and restore it safely.”
The next step on the project will involve vegetation restoration in areas damaged by the landslide and affected by the reconstruction efforts. PG&E has also committed to repair or restore roads that were impacted by the construction vehicles.
“We had tremendous support from the residents who live near the canal. We want to repay that support by making sure their roads are in good shape,” Jones said.