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In addition to the usual functions of flood control and hydropower, this dam provides water for the surrounding communities.
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USACE
"The watershed basin for Beaver Lake covers 1186 miles [I presume they meant square miles.] (759,040 acres) and there are 449 miles of shoreline at the top of the conservation pool (1120’ m.s.l)."
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I could find only information on the reservoir on the USACE page, but this reference provides information on the dam itself.
"The 2,575-foot-long dam consists of a 1,333-foot-long concrete section keyed into a limestone bluff, 1,242 feet of earth and rock embankment, and three small earth and rock dikes that fill gaps between adjacent hills. The spillway section is 328 feet long. Maximum height of the dam above the streambed is 228 feet. Mean depth is fifty-eight feet, and the maximum depth is 216 feet. The structure contains 780,000 cubic yards of concrete and 1.6 million yards of rock and dirt embankment. Storage capacity is 1.95 million acre-feet, which includes flood control storage. At full conservation pool, or normal managed lake level, the reservoir covers 28,200 acres with a shoreline of 449 miles. The mean hydraulic retention time (the time it takes for water to cycle through the reservoir) is one and a half years....The construction and maintenance of Beaver Dam has not been without technical challenges. A large cavern a few hundred feet upstream of the dam site was discovered during initial excavation work and was filled with 200 cubic yards of grout material. The earth embankment also rests on the Price Mountain fault line, and the dam underwent seepage repairs from 1989 to 1994 at a cost of about $33.5 million." [
EncylopediaOfArkansas]
Four construction photos on the
USACE page.
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Arkansas Breaking News posted
Beaver Dam cost $46.2 million to build. That was 1966 money. Call it $476 million today. Sixty years later, it is still not paid off. Here is the part most people do not know. When the Corps of Engineers builds a dam that makes electricity, the electricity is supposed to pay the government back. The Southwestern Power Administration sells Beaver's power, mostly to co-ops and city utilities. That money goes to the U.S. Treasury. By law it covers operating costs first, then interest, then whatever is left goes toward the principal. The clock is 50 years from the day a piece of equipment goes into service. So why is a 1966 dam still on the books? Because there is no Beaver mortgage. Beaver is one of 24 dams pooled into one giant ledger. As of 2021 that whole system had paid back $1.66 billion and still owed $239 million. Because the bill keeps growing. Beaver's cost on the books is now $109 million, not $46.2 million. Every new turbine, transformer and repair is a new charge with a fresh 50-year clock. Because of interest. Ratepayers in that system have paid $913 million in interest alone. And because most of the money never reaches the principal. In 2021, operations and maintenance ate more than half of every dollar that came in. Only about a third was left over to pay down what is owed. Beaver makes roughly 172 million kilowatt-hours a year. About 3 percent of the whole system's output. One last thing. Only the power share of a dam ever gets repaid. The flood control share does not. Taxpayers covered that in 1966 and it is not coming back. |
The powerhouse had two 56mw units.
May 2025 Flood:
The May 2025 Flood is spilling over into June.
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The City of Bentonville, Arkansas Government posted
Over the weekend, all 7 spillways at Beaver Lake were open — a rare and powerful sight! This massive release helps lower the lake after all the recent rain.What’s incredible is that even with all that water rushing into the White River, Beaver Lake still holds more than enough to supply Bentonville and much of Northwest Arkansas with drinking water. The water comes from the lake, and Beaver Water District does the important job of treating and preparing it for safe use in our homes. Nature’s power + human engineering = one impressive system. |
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| Hooked On Fishing, LLC posted 0:28 video |
There is a big pause between gates 4 and 5 opening, but 5 does finally go up.
Fourth gate goes up at 0:15. Fifth at 1:15. Sixth at 2:32. Seventh at 3:36.
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USACE, Little Rock District posted 4:18 video
Beaver Dam Spillway Gate Operations - May 20, 2025 The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened all spillway gates half a foot at Beaver Dam this morning to evacuate flood storage from recent rainfall. The spillway release combined with hydropower is around 7,500 cubic feet per second. Keep an eye on water levels by using the Little Rock District Water Levels app. You can download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Just search for Little Rock USACE. 🎥 by Julie Massey |
They caught Gate 3 opening up.
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