This week crews have been pumping water from Folsom Lake through a temporary levee at a rate of 32,000 cubic feet per second and into a basin adjacent to the new spillway.
Katie Charan is the Senior Project Manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"So, the next step is to remove the temporary construction coffer dam," she says, "finish all of the work on the approach channel side which is estimated to take about five months, and then we've got some concrete work to finish on the downstream side to finish out the chute that connects to the American River itself."
The twelve gates of the new spillway are 50 feet lower than Folsom Dam's gates and will allow for earlier releases of water during severe weather.
The project is costing about $900 million dollars and will be operational this December. Restoration of the land around the project is scheduled to be completed by next October.
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