Parker Dam facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Parker Dam |
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 Location of Parker Dam in Arizona
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| Location | San Bernardino County, California La Paz County, Arizona |
| Coordinates | 34°17′47″N 114°08′23″W / 34.29639°N 114.13972°W |
| Status | In use |
| Construction began | 1934 |
| Opening date | 1938 |
| Owner(s) | United States Bureau of Reclamation |
| Operator(s) | United States Bureau of Reclamation |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Concrete gravity-arch |
| Impounds | Colorado River |
| Height | 85 ft (26 m) |
| Height (foundation) | 320 ft (98 m) |
| Length | 856 ft (261 m) |
| Width (crest) | 39 ft (12 m) |
| Width (base) | 100 ft (30 m) |
| Spillway type | Service, controlled |
| Spillway capacity | 400,000 cu ft/s (11,000 m3/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Lake Havasu |
| Total capacity | 646,200 acre⋅ft (797,100,000 m3) |
| Catchment area | 178,392 sq mi (462,030 km2) |
| Surface area | 19,300 acres (7,800 ha) |
| Power station | |
| Turbines | 4 x 30 MW Francis turbine |
| Installed capacity | 120 MW |
| Annual generation | 456.944 GWh |
The Parker Dam is a huge wall of concrete that crosses the Colorado River. It's about 155 miles (249 km) downstream from the famous Hoover Dam. This special type of dam is called an arch-gravity dam. It uses both its heavy weight and its curved shape to hold back the water.
The dam was built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation. It is 320 feet (98 meters) tall in total. What's really cool is that 235 feet (72 meters) of its height are actually underground! This makes Parker Dam the deepest dam in the world. Engineers had to dig very deep to find strong rock for the dam's foundation. The part you see above the ground is 85 feet (26 meters) tall. This means more of the dam is hidden underground than is visible above it.
The main jobs of Parker Dam are to create a large reservoir and to make hydroelectric power. The reservoir behind the dam is named Lake Havasu. It can hold a massive amount of water, about 647,000 acre-feet (798 million cubic meters). The dam sits right on the border between Arizona and California. It's located where the Colorado River flows through a narrow spot between the Whipple Mountains in California and the Buckskin Mountains in Arizona.
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How Parker Dam Makes Electricity
The power plant at Parker Dam has four large machines called Francis turbines. Together, these turbines can make 120 megawatts of electricity. Each turbine is very heavy, weighing about 60,000 pounds (27,216 kg). The water falls about 72 feet (22 meters) to spin the turbines.
This power plant is very efficient, turning water energy into electricity with 97 percent efficiency. Half of the electricity made here is used by a group called the Metropolitan Water District. They use it to pump water along a big channel called the Colorado River Aqueduct. The other half of the electricity is sold to cities and towns in California, Arizona, and Nevada. The amount of power they can make depends on keeping the water level in Lake Havasu just right. This is important for other water pumping stations to work properly.
Supplying Water to Cities
Lake Havasu, formed by Parker Dam, is a very important source of water. It supplies water to two major aqueducts, which are like giant water pipelines.
Water for Southern California
One of these pipelines is the Colorado River Aqueduct. This aqueduct is managed by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. This district provides water to many cities in the greater Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Diego areas. The Metropolitan Water District paid for almost all of the dam's cost. However, the dam is owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Water for Central Arizona
Lake Havasu also supplies water to the Central Arizona Project Aqueduct (CAP). This project was built to bring water to farms in Arizona. It also provides drinking water for several Arizona communities. This includes the large cities of Phoenix and Tucson.
Images for kids
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Parker Dam as seen from the Arizona side.
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Parker Dam as seen from the California side.
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Parker Dam in the 1940s.
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Parker Dam in the 1940s.
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Parker Dam in the 1940s.
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Parker Dam in the 1940s.
