New Melones Dam
New Melones Dam | |||||||
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New Melones Dam | |||||||
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Coordinates | 37 ° 56 ′ 56 ″ N , 120 ° 31 ′ 27 ″ W | ||||||
Data on the structure | |||||||
Lock type: | Rockfall dam | ||||||
Construction time: | 1966-1979 | ||||||
Height above foundation level : | 190.6 m | ||||||
Height of the structure crown: | 346 m | ||||||
Crown length: | 476 m | ||||||
Crown width: | 12.2 m | ||||||
Power plant output: | 300 MW | ||||||
Data on the reservoir | |||||||
Altitude (at congestion destination ) | 320.1 m | ||||||
Water surface | 51 km² | ||||||
Reservoir length | 12 km | ||||||
Reservoir width | 4 km | ||||||
Storage space | 2960 million m³ | ||||||
Catchment area | 2 300 km² | ||||||
Design flood : | 3 188 m³ / s | ||||||
The dam |
The New Melones Dam is a dam on the Stanislaus River that damms it into New Melones Lake . The dam is located in the hills of the lower Sierra Nevada near Jamestown , 40 miles east of Stockton in Tuolumne County , California , USA.
The United States Bureau of Reclamation operates the dam. Their main purpose is to provide water for irrigation purposes. The barrier structure is a roughly 190-meter-high curved rock embankment that was completed in 1979. The dam is one of the 70 highest in the world and the reservoir is one of the largest 150. It has a volume of 2.96 billion cubic meters.
Hydroelectric power plant
At the foot of the dam there is a hydropower plant with an output of 300 megawatts . It has three vertically standing Francis turbines and a hydraulic drop height of 140 meters. The power plant can also operate at low capacity and serves peak demand; this means that it usually works during the daytime when electricity needs are highest.
Controversy
The dam was one of the last to be built in California after the environmental movement grew stronger. The dam was fought by groups like the Sierra Club , as well as many individuals who believed the Stanislaus River canyon was worth far more than the reservoir. On May 20, 1979, Mark Dubois broke into the dam construction site and chained himself to a boulder in the river bed to prevent the United States Army Corps of Engineers from filling the reservoir. His protest was successful in that the rapids above Parrott's Ferry Bridge were temporarily secured. Nevertheless, in 1982 the reservoir was allowed to be filled to its full capacity.
See also
Web links
- New Melones Dam ( Memento from May 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- New Melones Power Plant ( Memento from May 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- New Melones Dam in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
- New Melones Lake in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey