SAN DIEGO — For months, we've been following the City of San Diego's effort to repair the Lake Hodges Dam. Part of that process includes lowering the water level on Lake Hodges to do the repair. Last week, the city said it found more cracks in the 104-year-old dam, which pushed out the timeline for repairs. The plan was to have the job done before the start of the rainy season.
"Now that we have the dam face exposed, we've identified more defects, defects, more cracks and rebar needs to be repaired. Over 50% of the water volume has been removed to bring the water level down to 275," explained Drew Kleis, the interim Assistant Director of the Public Utilities Department for the City of San Diego.
That water was transferred to the San Dieguito Water District, the Santa Fe Irrigations District and the County of San Diego. To help with the repairs a special platform was built.
"They shaped the barge to fit around the arched barrels of the dam, so that they can access the dam more closely and work more efficiently to get the work done. Work is also taking place from the top down," said Kleis. "Workers are repelling down from the top of the dam performing repairs suspended from the top."
The original estimate for completion of the repairs was by fall, but with the newly found damage that has been extended.
"We anticipate this is going to extend the work into early spring and add a month or two before the repairs are complete," continue Kleis.
Once the work is done, the city will decide on the water level.
"That's one of the things we're looking at or analyze, to look at the repairs. It will depend on the repairs and our evaluation of the dam, we'll see," Kleis said.
Until then there is no access to the water and what will be allowed in the future is still being decided.
"We don't know what will be allowed back out on the lake, that's one of the things we'll be evaluating, all water access to the lake," said Kleis.
Watch Related: Inspection shows Lake Hodges Dam is in need of repairs (May 3, 2022)