Dams serve a variety of functions and provide numerous benefits to local areas and industry. They are primarily used to store water, control flooding and generate electricity. Many dams serve to store water to function as standing lakes. In general, dams provide various advantages for communities but still other disadvantages.
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In general, dams are important structures that are constructed for the purpose of water storage. The water held by dams, generally from a channel, can later be used for generating electricity and used for irrigation purposes. Dams are also critical in flood control.
How Are Dams Constructed?
One of the most well known dams, Hoover Dam, was constructed to provide irrigation water to local communities as well as to control floods and generate hydroelectricity. The federal government authorized construction of Hoover Dam, which spans 30 miles across the Nevada-Arizona border. Its large structure depicts the various advantages that dams have for local areas.
A dam is a structure commonly built across a river or stream to create a large reservoir behind it. There are various types of dam spillways and operational dam gates that help control the flow of water.
With dam engineering there are different categories to consider for construction including structural type, usage and materials required. Construction of dams is complex. Dam projects require substantial labor, materials, and other resources. Knowing how dams work can provide clarity to how they&#;re constructed. Steps take to build dams include:
Building up an area to help divert water in order to properly create structure. Engineers usually implement tunneling systems to help in diverting water from existing rivers.
Creating a foundation is the next step in construction of dams.
Cofferdams
are one type of dam that can help in the layout of the structure.
Assembling the overall structure of the dam is next. During this process, dam construction contractors ensure there is no loose rock on the riverbed, then work to build a plinth. This keeps water from leaking from the ledges of the dam. Majority of dams use reinforcements with concrete steel to protect against water flow.
Once a dam has been fully constructed, dam contractors will fill the reservoir. During this process, testing of flood gates is critical.
Advantages of Dams
Dams are advantageous in many ways. In engineering, dams function to store vast amounts of water in flooding and even for recreational purposes.
Many other factors to consider when weighing the advantages of dams include: improved health and life by supplying clean water, improved quality of sanitation, increased food (crop & fish) production, irrigation supply, protection of lives and goods from flooding, generation of electricity, tailings of mines and controlling the debris as well as the recreation and environmental benefits of the reservoirs.
Why Are Dams Advantageous?
As a water source, dams have many advantages and applications. The application of dams can include cooking, cleaning, bathing, washing, drinking water, farming and for other cultivation purposes.
When there&#;s excess flow of water, dams help by storing water in reservoirs. Dams also function to release water during times of low flow when natural streams are inadequate to meet demands. All purposes are kept in mind when constructing dams. Some functions of dams can include:
Irrigation
Dams help crops and plants through evapotranspiration. With large quantities of water stored in dams, they can be easily used for irrigation. This helps communities plan farming and nurturing crops accordingly, further enhancing food supply.
Some examples of dams used for irrigation include Burrinjuck Dam in Australia.
Drinking Water
A portion of water storage in dams and reservoirs is supplied for drinking, municipal and industrial purposes. After water treatment, it can be used for drinking. This can help ensure that people are drinking pure water, preventing diseases like cholera.
An example dam used for drinking water supply is also in Australia known as Warragamba.
Electrical Generation
One of the staples of dams and major industry advantages is dam usage in hydropower and electrical generation. There are several environmental advantages of hydroelectric power including its flexibility, affordability, and the perks of being a renewable resource.
Once constructed, a dam can generate constant electricity. There&#;s no fuel requirements to produce this electricity. Dams used in hydropower also last longer than thermal power plants. The resource is renewable given that it can be used repeatedly downstream for power generation. Hydropower can be stored or diverted and is one of the most eco-friendly means of producing power. One example of this is the 103,800 megawatts of electricity produced by dams in the United States alone. Itaipu Dam is a hydropower site in Brazil with one of the world&#;s largest productions of power.
Use In Flood Control
As mentioned previously, during flood seasons, dams can be used to control the flow of water by either reducing floods to help manage wash aways. It can also reduce congestion of water.
In the United States, flood zones in Tennessee, southern Ohio, and the lower Mississippi Rivers are controlled by Tennessee Valley Authority dams.
Water Storage
Reservoirs have many beneficial features including the most pronounced of being a source of water storage. Upstream water ponds can be used for fish farms, further reducing damage to fish habitats during dam construction.
Environmentally Friendly
One of the major advantages of dams is their eco-friendly features. Because dams use a renewable resource, they help to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide. Additionally, tailing dams help protect the environment from toxic mining wastes.
Recreational Purposes
Dams can also serve as a recreational activity. Several dams throughout the United States are known to provide an area for boating, skiing, campaign, picnics, and boat launches.
Dam Construction with Gracon LLC
Dams are classified according to the type of construction material being used, the slope or cross-section of the dam, and the way the dam resists the forces of the water pressure behind it, the means used for controlling seepage, and what the dam&#;s purpose may be. There are various types of dams to consider and the advantages of each.
Are you interested in learning more about flow control gate? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
Gracon LLC are dam experts in construction, maintenance and rehabilitation. We work to ensure that each dam project is given the opportunity to capitalize on the advantages of dams listed above, plus numerous others. For more information on our dam construction and processes contact us today.
The Hoover Dam is the most famous such example in North America, and for good reason. Built between and during the Great Depression, the project was truly a feat of engineering for the time.
Standing 726 feet high, and 1,244 feet long, the dam&#;in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River&#;is certainly impressive. It also forms Lake Mead, the largest manmade reservoir in North America. The lake has gained national attention recently because of its rapidly declining water levels.
The Hoover is now the most visited dam in the world, and draws 7 million tourists a year.
A photo shows Hoover Dam, in Nevada and Arizona, at dawn. The structure was originally built in the s for flood control.
A photo shows Hoover Dam, in Nevada and Arizona, at dawn. The structure was originally built in the s for flood control.
Sean Pavone/Getty
Robert Glennon, a water policy and law expert and emeritus professor at the University of Arizona, told Newsweek: "Building a dam at this scale had never been done [at the time of construction]. It was an engineering marvel."
However, it is a lot more than just a tourist attraction, and the southwest U.S. exists, as we know it today, because of the Hoover Dam.
There were three main reasons for the construction of the dam, and the first, most vital one, was flood control.
Before the dam was constructed, the Colorado River flowed wildly and untamed through the Rocky Mountains, all the way south to the Gulf of California, for 1,450 miles. The river, supplied by snowpack coming down from the mountains, would regularly flood the surrounding regions, depending on how full it was that year.
"The Colorado River was wildly up and down, depending on snow melt in the Colorado Rockies. It could be a big year or a low year&#;and they were trying to even that out," Glennon said.
"Because a lot of the best lands in the Lower Colorado are adjacent to the river itself. So it got a huge flood. In fact, the Bureau of Reclamation said the river was, quote, 'a natural menace.'"
One such example of this flooding occurred between and , when the Colorado River broke through its banks and flooded 100,000 acres of farmland in Southern California. This was around the same time that the Bureau of Reclamation started planning for a dam in the Boulder Canyon region, on the Colorado River.
Plans were set in motion, but flood control was not the only thing they had to think about. Water supply was another main reason for building the Hoover Dam.
"The second very important purpose [for its construction] was water supply. About 40 million people depend on water from the Colorado River, and that is through Hoover Dam. Once it was constructed, the river flowed when the Bureau of Reclamation determined it would flow," Glennon said.
Before the Hoover Dam, farmers downstream had a lot of water only in the spring when the snowpack melted. Then the water would peter out by the end of the summer.
However, with the construction of the dam, the flow could be controlled, meaning farmers had access to water 365 days a year.
"And that was just an enormous game-changer," Glennon said. "[...] This water supply being evened out over the whole year, gave farmers a tremendous opportunity to plant more than one crop during the year."
Lastly, the Hoover Dam was built for power. Although this was not as vital as preventing flooding, or providing irrigation, it is a function of the dam that continues to this day.
"They attached some turbines and all of the high-wire lines to move the electricity created at Hoover Dam, and that's just simply a function of having built the dam in Boulder Canyon," Glennon said.
"The water that was held back in Lake Mead, when the lake was full, there would be a drop of 500 or 600 feet&#;a very big drop. And all of that is potential energy," Glennon added. "So, spinning the turbines generated hydropower."
To this day, Hoover Dam produces about 4 billion kilowatt-hours of hydroelectric power every year for about 1.3 million people living across Nevada, Arizona and California.
The Hoover Dam relies on water from Lake Mead to function, but the reservoir has seen better days.
Lake Mead is drying up because of the ongoing megadrought in the southwestern U.S, paired with the overconsumption of water in the region.
The drought is making weather patterns&#;such as seasonal rainfall&#;harder to predict, and less frequent. This has meant water is being used faster than the lake can replenish itself.
The Colorado River also relies on snowpack from the Rocky Mountains for water, and this is also becoming harder to predict.
Some parts of the U.S. saw a colder winter than usual, meaning the snowpack is better in , when compared to previous years in the drought.
This may make water levels rise temporarily, but as the drought has gone on for so long, it will be short-lived. It would take years of increased rainfall and cooler temperatures to lift the drought.
It is feared that Lake Mead could reach dead pool, if water levels continue declining at the rate they are.
Dead pool would mean that Lake Mead's water levels got so low that water would no longer flow past Hoover Dam, making it unfunctional for irrigation and electricity.
As of February 14, Lake Mead's water levels stood at 1,047.51 feet. It is just less than 30 percent full, and dead pool would be at around 895 feet. The Bureau of Reclamation predicts that Lake Mead, if it continues drying up at the same pace, could reach dead pool by . In July , the lake reached its lowest-ever point at 1,040 feet.
Now, officials are working to figure out a plan to prevent dead pool from happening. Because if it did, it would be a "catastrophe" for the surrounding region, Glennon said.
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