Yuba Water accesses damaged Colgate powerhouse, reports ‘extensive damage’
Yuba Water Agency on Tuesday announced that it has launched initial visits to the New Colgate Powerhouse following a large water pipeline rupture at the facility.
The announcement came late Tuesday afternoon, when the agency said its crews had “successfully accessed” the site by helicopter and reported “extensive damage” to the facility.
“We are encouraged by what we initially saw inside the powerhouse,” said Willie Whittlesey, Yuba Water Agency’s general manager.
“There is significant damage, but we had feared worse. We have a massive job ahead of us to restore safe access to the powerhouse facility and get the power plant back into working condition.”
The agency also said it has hired Nordic Industries of Olivehurst to begin repairs on the damaged road near the lower section of Lake Francis Road “to enable safe access to the powerhouse area,” while noting that Lake Francis Road remains closed to the public at this time.
Ahead of the expected storm and higher water flows, the agency said it has equipment in place on the Englebright Lake, along with debris and oil booms, adding that it will resume the debris cleanup efforts once the flows come back to normal. So far, local and state officials have collected 24 bins of oily debris from the pipeline rupture, with each bin able to hold up to 20 cubic yards.
“We’ve also successfully accounted for most of the hazardous materials that we knew may have been impacted,” Whittlesey said. “We will continue efforts to account for those few remaining items as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
County ratifies emergency declaration
The development came as the Yuba County Board of Supervisors approved a local emergency declaration tied to the water pipe rupture at the New Colgate Powerhouse, formally recognizing the scale of the incident and potentially opening the door to state and federal assistance.
On Feb. 13, a large water pipe ruptured at the Colgate facility on the North Yuba River, upstream of Englebright Dam, which manages flows to the lower river.
The emergency declaration was first signed by county administrator and director of emergency services Kevin Mallen in response to hazardous materials and debris entering the Yuba River. Under state law, the proclamation must be ratified by the governing body, which the Board did on Tuesday.
Renick House, the supervisor representing Yuba County District 2, thanked Mallen, during the Board meeting, for “acting swiftly” to contain the damage from the incident.
“I know it doesn’t fit the typical emergency, because there’s not lives in danger, but this is really going to shape the county in the next 20 years,” House said.
DeDe Cordell, a spokesperson for the Yuba Water Agency, said the ratification allows the agency to request additional help from the county — and, if needed, from state and federal agencies.
“This enables us to receive resources, such as staffing, supplies, equipment, etc., from the county, and potentially from the state and federal government as well,” Cordell wrote in an email.
With the ratification, Yuba County can seek funding under the California Disaster Assistance Act through the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES).
“Funding for the repair, restoration, or replacement of public real property damaged or destroyed by a disaster is made available when the Director concurs with a local emergency proclamation requesting state disaster assistance,” CAL OES says on its website.
The Colgate pipe rupture led to the deaths of hundreds, and possibly thousands, of young Chinook salmon in the lower Yuba River, raising broader questions from river conservationists about the state’s reliance on aging water infrastructure and how it is managed.
While local and state officials continue to contain the damage and track environmental impacts on the Yuba River, it is being estimated that it could take “months to years” before the damaged pipe is restored.
With the Colgate water pipe still offline and the construction deadline now pushed back, Ron Stark, a senior policy advocate with Friends of the River, warned the extended outage could leave New Bullards Bar Reservoir — the main storage pool that feeds water through Colgate — with only about a third of its normal outlet capacity.
Following the rupture, Stark cautioned it could become difficult for operators in the dry season later in the year to meet downstream flow obligations and other environmental requirements in the lower Yuba River.
“This is not ideal for floodwater management operations,” he said.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Yuba Water accesses damaged Colgate powerhouse, reports ‘extensive damage’."
