August 31, 2022 - Last Friday, Congressman Kevin McCarthy participated in the Phase II Groundbreaking Ceremony of the Success Reservoir Enlargement Project (SREP) at Schafer Dam. Phase II will raise the Schafer Dam spillway by 10 feet, which will increase storage capacity at Success Reservoir by 28,000 acre-feet, bringing its total capacity to 110,000 acre-feet.

Congressman McCarthy (center) partakes in the Phase II Groundbreaking Ceremony. He is joined by (L-R) U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District Commander Colonel Chad Caldwell, State Senator Shannon Grove, Congressman David Valadao, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific Division Commander Colonel Antoinette Gant, Downstream Kaweah & Tule Rivers Association Manager Mark Unruh, and Tulare Supervisor Dennis Townsend.

Congressman McCarthy released the following statement:

“Paired with the Phase I groundbreaking in 2020, this occasion marks the beginning of the end of the work to raise Schafer Dam. Fixing Schafer Dam has been a top priority of mine in order to improve flood protection for communities and farmland below the dam, as well as to increase storage capacity at this reservoir. I have worked in Congress to ensure the Army Corps has the federal funding it needs for this project and held countless meetings with Army Corps officials to press them on bringing this decades-long project finally to fruition. This groundbreaking ceremony is a huge milestone for our community.”

Congressman McCarthy addresses attendees during the ceremony.

Background

• Congress authorized the Success Reservoir Enlargement Project (SREP) to widen and raise Schafer Dam in the Water Resources Development Act of 1999 as a flood control project.
• Construction of the SREP started in 2003, but was put on hold in 2005 following potential safety concerns with Schafer Dam. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has resolved safety concerns at this facility.
• In February 2018, Congress passed, and former President Trump signed into law, the Bipartisan Budget Act (Public Law 115-123), which provided over $15 billion in funding to the USACE to construct flood and storm damage reduction projects, such as the SREP.
• Rep. McCarthy worked with USACE officials to secure $50 million in federal funding for Phase I of this project to widen the spillway at Schafer Dam, which started in September 2020 (no public groundbreaking ceremony was held due to COVID restrictions). Additionally, McCarthy helped to secure $73 million in federal funding for Phase II of this project to raise the spillway by 10 feet.
• Once completed, this project will improve flood protection for the City of Porterville and other communities below Schafer Dam, as well as more than 400,000 acres of farmland in Tulare County.
• According to the USACE, raising the spillway will also increase storage capacity at Success Reservoir by 28,000 acre-feet, bringing total storage capacity to 110,000 acre-feet.
  Source: Congressman Kevin McCarthy