The California Department of Water Resources has ordered that scores of dams up and down the state -- 93 of them to be precise -- have their flood-control spillways inspected.
This includes roughly 15 dams in various Southern California counties.
When the Oroville Dam in Northern California failed, the spillway there erode and the communities below the dam had to be evacuated for fear of flooding.
One problem for dams across the state? They're getting old.
"It's important to realize that the average age of the dams is 70 years, with a few of them exceeding 100 years of age, said Daniel Meyersohn, Supervising Engineer with the department's safety division.
Meyersohn told Take Two's A Martinez that as the investigation of the dams continues, he and his team are working to identify a variety of potential problems.
"First the team will be looking at the design and construction of the spillway and identify the absence of safety design features. Because these are old dams; they were built in a different era under different standards.
"Then there will be the physical inspection proper of the spillway. We will be looking at the surface conditions of the concrete lining. Things like cracks, conditions of the joints, the lamination and so forth."
