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"The 190-foot-high Matilija Dam in Ventura County can be removed over three years at an estimated cost of $130 million, according to a new study that examines the environmental benefits and challenges involved in demolishing the aging structure.
To minimize the possibility of downstream flooding, levees would have to be built or made taller in Meiners Oaks, Live Oak Acres and Casitas Springs; bridges would have to be altered; and in a few areas, structures and land purchased, according to the environmental report.
Fish and animals along the 17-mile-long Ventura River watershed would be temporarily stressed by the demolition, the report found. But the dam's removal would improve the Ventura River's ecosystem in the long run, said the study, prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Ventura County Watershed Protection District. The Matilija project is the largest and most ambitious of a fledgling movement by environmentalists to remove federal dams that are no longer needed for power, water storage or flood control.
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Built in 1948, the dam has trapped so much sediment that its capacity to hold water is diminished. Getting rid of the millions of cubic yards of fine silt, sand and rock behind its concrete wall is a technical challenge that will have to be carried out carefully, the report says. After considering several alternatives, officials settled on a two-pronged plan that would drain about one-third of the silt through a slurry pipe."
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