Don't Panic Geocast

Having just got back from vacationing near a river, Shannon’s mind is wondering (and wandering!) about dams and their impacts, both good and bad. People use dams for electricity, recreation, flood control, and a myriad of other things. Let’s take a look at some huge dams and what they do to both communities and rivers. Oroville (1968) is the tallest in the US, and earthen dam in CA 770’ high Hoover (1935) is next at 726’ high on the border of AZ and NV Tallest dam in the world is Jingping-I dam (2013) in China is 1000’ high Largest reservoir in the US is Lake Mead, which holds 29 million acre-feet of water Glen Canyon dam Lake Powell on the AZ/UT border, and is a close second at 26 million acre-feet capacity. Colorado River WPA Why build dams at all? Water supply Irrigation and flood control Power supply Recreation Hydroelectric Power Hoover dam generates 4.5 billion kw-hr per year, serving 8 million people in AZ, southern CA and NV Itaipu dam, on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, dams the Parana Rive