The error codes (N) of the Oroville Dam

Many New Californians in the Butte, Sutter and Yuba counties have expressed great concern over what they have been seeing error codes from the Oroville dam data exchange center's hourly charts from the Department of Water Resources. The error codes (N) started showing up on the charts April 12, 2019 at 3:00 pm pst. when the last reported elevation of the water in the reservoir was at 860.83 feet. By 4:00 pm pst the elevation was reported at 533.22 a drop of 327 feet in the water level. Noted alongside the measurement is letter (N) which indicates there is an error in the reporting.

Of big concern for people was after 44 hours without a proper reading from the Oroville Dam what was the real level of the reservoir since the last reading that was produced without an error code (N) was Friday April 12, 2019 at 3:00 pm pst that report showed an elv. at 860.83 ft

As of Sunday at 12:00 pm pst 44 hours after the error code showed there was only minimal data that could be used such as the inches per hour which was not reliable but the Inflows were 19,559 vs Out flows of 8,002 at 12:00 pm pst April 14, 2019 with the main spillway is NOT in use.

"We don't know the levels. What are the exact numbers?" stated one Butte County resident.

The dam max reservoir is 899.9. Over topping starts at 901 many people were thinking there was an over topping threat as they saw on February 11, 2017. The February 11, 2017 incident was the led to the February 12 dam failure that forced the Sheriff to call for an emergency evacuation of 190,000 people from the inundation zone.

April 12, 2019 Oroville Dam Main Spillway

February 11, 2017 Over Topping Oroville Dam