Folsom Dam Auxiliary Spillway Project U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Sacramento District
A joint federal project with:
U.S. Department of the Interior - Bureau of Reclamation
Central Valley Flood Protection Board - State of California
Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency
Sacramento is perhaps America’s most-at-risk city for catastrophic flooding.
Along with our federal, state, and local partners, we are building an auxiliary spillway for Folsom Dam to increase its release capacity and reduce flood risk downstream.
Folsom Auxiliary Spillway (artist rendering)
The approximately $900 million project will consist of a new dam (control structure) with a 1,100-foot-long approach channel ...
The approach channel and dam structure from the lake side (artist rendering).
... and a 3,027-foot-long spillway chute with a stilling basin to dissipate the energy of water released from the dam before it enters the American River below.
Looking up the spillway chute from below the stilling basin (artist rendering).
Looking up the spillway chute from below the stilling basin.
The auxiliary spillway's control structure will be taller than the Statue of Liberty ...
... and will be able to release up to 312,000 cubic feet of water per second - enough to fill four Olympic-size swimming pools every second!
The Folsom Dam auxiliary spillway is on schedule to be completed in October 2017, four years sooner than the original planned completion date of 2021 and nearly $416 million below original cost projections.
