OCR Text |
Show C. AUTHORIZED STORAGE UNITS (Information relative to Storage Units and participating projects has been obtained from reports on investigations and activities of the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.) The Colorado River Storage Project presently has four Storage Units authorized for construction by the U.S. Congress in the Act of April 11, 1956 (70 Stat. 105). These Storage Units are comprised of Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell on the Colorado River in Arizona and Utah, Navajo Dam and Reservoir on the San Juan River in New Mexico and Colorado, Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir on the Green River in Utah and Wyoming, and the Curecanti Storage Unit on the Gunnison River in Colorado consisting of three dams and reservoirs at sites called Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal. Combined, the four storage Units will provide about 33,583,000 acre-feet of water storage capacity and about 1,216,000 kilowatts of installed hydroelectric generating capability. The Authorizing Act also provided for the construction of eleven participating irrigation projects. 1. Glen Canyon Storage Unit Glen Canyon Dam and Reservoir comprises the key storage unit and is the largest of the initial four, providing about 80 percent of both the storage and generating capacity. The dam rises 710 feet above bedrock and is roughly comparable in size to Hoover Dam. The concrete arch dam is located in northern Arizona on the Colorado River, 12.4 miles downstream from the Utah-Arizona State line and 15.3 miles upstream from Lees Ferry. (Lees Ferry is the location of the Geological Survey gaging station and is 1.3 miles upstream from the compact point, Lee Ferry, that divides the Colorado River drainage into two basins.) Glen Canyon Dam is the second tallest dam in the United States. The reservoir, comparable to Lake Mead, has a capacity of 27,000,000 acre-feet and will extend a maximum of 186 miles upstream on the Colorado River and 71 miles up the San Juan River. The powerhouse, located at the toe of the dam, has eight generating units with a total installed capacity of 900,000 kilowatts. Construction Activities The prime contract for general construction of Glen Canyon Dam was awarded on April 29, 1957, to Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation. The high pressure gates in the left diversion tunnel were partially closed on March 13, 1963, to begin impoundment of water in Lake Powell. Glen Canyon Dam was completed on September 13, 93 |