1,327,000 Hp. at Boulder Dam : Power, Vol. 86, No. 7
✍ Scribed by R.H.O.
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 1942
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 60 KB
- Volume
- 234
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0016-0032
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✦ Synopsis
Boulder Dam water and power project is approaching its final stage of completion. When the contract was let for its construction, March 1931, no one could foresee that in IO years nearly 1,5oo,ooo hp. of power generating capacity would be installed or on order for its power plant and that it would generate 3,224,423,ooo kw. hr. in 1941. Boulder Dam has many unique features. It is 73o ft. high from the lowest point on its bed rock foundation to its crest, almost 200 ft. higher than any other dam in the world. It is 650 ft. thick at its base, measured up and down stream. With a crest length of 118o ft. it contains 3,400,000 cu. ft. of concrete. This is a greater volume of material than in the great pyramid of Cheops in Egypt that held the record for 3000 years. This dam also forms the largest artificial reservoir in the world, now known as Lake Mead. When filled to the top of the spillway gates, it will store more than 31,ooo,ooo acre-ft of water. When it is realized that most of the world's reservoirs have a capacity of 500,00o acre-ft. or less we get some idea of the size of Lake Mead. To build the dam the river was diverted around the site through four concrete lined tunnels 50 ft. in diameter. Since the tunnels were closed in February 1935, to fill the reservoir, the river has been under complete control. In June of that year nearly 4,ooo,ooo acre-ft, of water was stored back of the dam. If this water had gone down the river uncontrolled it would have caused destructive floods. Later in the year, river flow dropped to 5000 sec. ft. above the dam, which would have resulted in a serious irrigation water shortage. Because of the water stored during the June flood a flow of IO,OOO sec. ft. was maintained below the dam, the amount needed to meet irrigation requirements. It required the total flow of the river for seven years, less that needed for irrigation and power generation, to fill the reservoir. R. H. O.
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