120mw Parker Dam creates Lake Havasu

(Satellite, 150 photos)

I learned of Lake Havasu when I researched the London Bridge.

usbr
"Parker Dam is a concrete arch structure commonly called the 'deepest dam in the world'.  Seventy-three percent of the dam's structural height of 320 feet [98m] is below the original river bed; only about 85 feet [26m] of the dam's structural height is visible (its superstructure rises another 62 feet [19m] above the roadway across the top of the dam). Parker Dam has a volume of 380,000 cubic yards of concrete. At its crest, the dam is 856 feet [261m] long. Water control is provided by five 50-ft [50m]-square gates." The capacity of the powerplant is 120mw.

usbr
"Lake Havasu backs up behind the dam for 45 miles and covers more than 20,400 acres (32 square miles). The reservoir's total capacity is 646,200 acre-feet. The Metropolitan Water District`s W. P. Whitsett Intake Pumping Plant for the Colorado River Aqueduct is located on the shore of Lake Havasu about two miles upstream from the dam. The aqueduct begins at the intake pumping plant and extends 242 miles to its terminus at Lake Mathews near Riverside, California. About half of the power generated at Parker Dam is reserved by MWD to pump Colorado River water along the Colorado River Aqueduct."

Bureau of Reclamation posted
In July of 1937, the first bucket of concrete was placed in Parker Dam, 245 feet [75m] below the level of #ColoradoRiver. One year later, the last bucket of concrete was placed, and Lake Havasu began to fill in October of 1938. 

nps

Don Barrett Flickr, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

LivingNewDeal
This dam is considered a diversion dam. "The diversion of the water from the Colorado River is made by the Parker Dam which raises the water level in the river 72 feet [22m] to the first pumping plant. The main aqueduct consists of 91 miles of tunnel, 55 miles of cut and cover conduit, 65 miles of lined canal, and 27 miles of various kinds of reassure pipe, making a total of 238 miles of aqueduct. The total pump lift, after diversion is completed by the Parker Dam, is 1,614 feet [492m]."