Guest Commentary written by
Keiko Mertz
Keiko Mertz is director of Friends of the River
The recent rupture of a massive pipe at the New Colgate Powerhouse on the Yuba River, about 50 miles north of Sacramento, was not a natural disaster. It was an infrastructure failure.
The rupture of the penstock pipe in February sent a torrent of water down a steep hillside, triggering erosion that carried sediment and man-made debris into the Yuba River. An oil sheen was detected. The emergency also triggered the shutdown of another powerhouse downstream, causing a sudden drop in river flows, killing hundreds — possibly thousands — of young Chinook salmon at a time when the state has been trying to help struggling salmon populations recover…