HOOVER DAM

Tuesday, March 23, 2010 – Hoover Dam

Bright and early this morning, we departed from the city that never sleeps to drive the 30 min trip to the Nevada - Arizona border to see the engineering marvel of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River. After two security checkpoints, we were inside the visitor’s center and meeting with our tour guide Leslie.

Leslie took us on what was called the VIP tour, requiring hardhats and allowing access to restricted parts of the Dam not open to the general public. We took an elevator down to the Nevada side of the turbine floor 550 feet below the top of the dam. After a short walk, we crossed the border and started the turbine floor tour on the Arizona side. The dam has a total of 17 generating units, 9 on the Arizona side and 8 on the Nevada side. The total power capacity generated from the 17 units is 2080 megawatts. An interesting thing is that they only run up to 30 % capacity as regulating water level dictates the power output rather that producing the maximum power. Each turbine is over seven stories tall with the water hitting each turbine blade at over 60 mph.

After seeing the maintenance area for working on the turbines, we moved on to one of the connection tunnels bored to meet up with the bypass tunnels used to divert the Colorado River during the construction. Once inside we could see how the 50-foot diameter tunnels had been retrofitted with 30-foot diameter pipes that would decrease in size down to 4-foot diameter used to direct the water into the turbines.

After leaving the tunnels, we walked along the outside of the power generation area, saw the large transformers, and cantilevered overhead lines ascending the canyon walls. After a quick walkthrough of a ventilation tunnel where we could look out of the dam halfway up the side we took the elevator up to the top of the dam and walked back across the border to the visitors center where we had begin.

Quick facts about Hoover Dam
Construction began 1931 – finished 1935.
Financed entirely through the sale of hydroelectric power.
Provides water for areas of Nevada, Arizona, and California.
The Dam
• Max Height: 726 feet
• Crest Length: 1244 feet
• Crest Width: 45 feet
• Base Width: 660 feet
• Volume of Concrete: 3.25 million cubic yards

The Powerplant
• Number of Units: 17
• Capacity: 2080 Megawatts
• Length: 650 feet
• Width: 55 feet
• Height: 75 feet

Pictures will be posted in the gallery

Proofed by Erin