The California Department of Water Resources shared this photo of the main spillway at Lake Oroville on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017.

Advertisement DWR: Water releases from Lake Oroville to be stopped Crews will begin cleaning debris at spillway’s base Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Water flows from the Oroville Dam spillway will be decreased throughout the day Monday and will eventually stop, the California Department of Water Resources said. The water releases from the main spillway will go from 50,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) at 6:45 a.m. to zero by the afternoon, officials announced Sunday. As the flows are reduced, the DWR will monitor the dam and the spillways to make sure everything is safe, officials said. The outflow from behind the 770-foot-tall dam will be stopped for several days to allow workers to clear concrete, silt and other debris from a pool at the bottom of the spillway. “Barges have been assembled and equipment is being staged for debris removal below the flood control spillway in the diversion pool,” DWR said in a Facebook post. MORE: 150,000 cubic yards of debris poses new challenge for Oroville repair crews Removing the debris will protect a shuttered underground hydroelectric plant and allow it to eventually resume operations. Once it has been cleared, officials will be able to release water from the power plant again at 14,000 cfs, the DWR said. As of Sunday, the water level at Lake Oroville was down to 842 feet. That’s 60 feet below the emergency spillway -- which has been dropping since Feb. 12. The department said it will continue releasing 50,000 cubic feet of water per second the rest of Sunday and overnight. With inflows of water at only 25,000 cubic feet of water per second, more space will be made at the reservoir before the outflows are cut on Monday. On Feb. 11, water managers used the emergency spillway for the first time in the dam's 48-year-history after a chunk of concrete tore out the main spillway, creating a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep crater. But the flow of water ripped through a road below and carved out deep chasms in the ground, leading authorities to order a two-day evacuation of 188,000 people for fear the emergency spillway could fail. Since then, crews have been working to fortify the badly eroded emergency spillway. DWR officials will be holding a news conference Monday morning to provide more details. --- The Associated Press contributed to this story.