Local engineers work to save Sacramento from possible flooding

DENVER - Federal water engineers in Denver are testing a major flood control project that will someday help protect the residents of Sacramento, California.

In a rare coordination of efforts, the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are working together to prevent future floods on the Lower American River.

Engineers have built a scale model of California's Folsom Dam. The replica sits in a four acre warehouse at the Federal Center. The engineers are using giant water pumps to see how well the scale model dam performs against simulated floods. A major revision of the dam is a proposed spillway which will divert large floods around the dam.

"It's unusual for a project of this scope to be done by the two agencies together," said Clifford Pugh, the Manager of Water Resources at the Bureau of Reclamation. "If we didn't have this project, a huge number of people in Sacramento could be affected, because Sacramento is in the floodplain."

Approximately 600,000 people live in the river's floodplain below Folsom Dam and could potentially be impacted by a catastrophic flood. In 1995, a gate on the dam broke sending a wall of water downstream. No one was injured, but engineers are concerned about the probability of larger, future floods.

In early November, Congress approved the spending of $683 million to create the new spillway. Engineers believe it's large enough to handle a "200 year flood," the largest probable flood projected to hit the river.

So far, engineers say the tests on the scale model at the Federal Center seem to work well. The diversion project is expected to be completed by 2015.