The use of turbines from dams to provide power was a brilliant idea until water levels started running lower than normal. The water waste from humanity is directly contributing to portions of it, aside from drought conditions affected by pollution, widespread fires battled, and more adds to the depletion thereof. When humanity is relying on power provided from dams to handle the demand, they are essentially relying on the assumption that water levels will always be there to provide it. The Hoover Dam provides power to the southwestern portion of the USA that has a large number of people.
The Hoover Dam turbines provide a great amount of electricity to those living in the states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. The water level of Lake Mead currently affects the dam’s ability to provide power from the large sized turbines. When the water level of Lake Mead goes down from conditions affecting it, the dam’s ability to provide power directly affects the power companies supplying consumers. Fortunately, the water levels gained back some of that full amount while still shy of where it once existed. As stated, “But the increased elevation isn’t enough to reopen any of the four boat launch ramps closed in the past decade, Holland said” (Shine, C., 2011, para. 9). This definitely indicates that there is currently promise to recovering with close to the original levels even though it may not be excessively soon.
The prospect of Lake Mead’s water level returning to the fullness of the past would be a desirable outlook. As stated, “Snowpack in southern and eastern Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada is still far below normal” (Berwyn, B., 2014, para. 3). The very dry conditions in New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern Nevada muc...
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...etrieved on March 20, 2014 from http://www.skepticalscience.com/water-vapor-greenhouse-gas.htm
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Shine, C., (2011, August 17). Lake Mead’s water level rises 30 feet after wet winter. Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved on March 20, 2014 from http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/aug/17/lake-meads-water-level-rises/
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There are nine dams in and directly leading to New York State’s Letchworth State Park. These dams have been built for a variety of reasons and affect nearly 400 miles of freshwater rivers in the Genesee River Basin of Western New York (Fish, n.d.).
In December 1936 the United States Department of the Interior authorized the Lower Colorado River Authority to construct a low dam at the site of an old crossing on the river known as Marshall Ford. Marshall Ford Dam was completed in 1941 through the collaboration of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) of Texas. The original purpose of the dam was to prevent floods from devastating Austin, TX. The capital city had substandard heavy damage from previous floods since its establishment in 1846. Soon bureaucrats came together to create the Colorado River Project, wanting to create a series of dams along the Colorado River to create hydroelectric power and serve to control floods and droughts. With Buchanan dam well under way with a total of six planned Marshall Ford was the only dam designed primarily for flood control and the only dam in which USBR oversaw construction. With money scarce there was debate over the final height dam and it reservoir capacity. This issue resolves itself with the flood of 1938. Once completed Marshall Ford Dam would flood 65 miles of the Colorado to form Lake Travis, creating the largest of the seven reservoirs known as the Highland Lakes.
The one feature common to the Hoover Dam, The Mississippi river and the three gorges dam is that they all tried to control nature’s swings, specifically in the form of flooding. Before the Hoover dam was built, the Colorado river “used to flood spectacularly…but after 1900 the Colorado provoked a vehement response” (Pg 177). The response was simple, but large. The U.S. built several large dams, including the Hoover dam, on the Colorado to decrease its flooding and increase power and irrigation. Unfortunately, just as human control of the Colorado’s flooding increased, its organisms and habitats were detrimentally influenced, and the water became more and more salinated.
Droughts in Wyoming’s future are unpredictable and uncertain; however, Richard Guldin of the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station in Fort Collins, Colorado, has made some predictions for the water situati...
Based on the events that lead to the devastating floods in Queensland and the eventual case that was brought against the engineers of the dam, there have been views from both sides of the divide as to whether or not the actions taken by the engineers were actually ethical or otherwise. We have explored this avenue and have found that both sides of the divide have good reasons to justify their actions. Firstly, we shall explore the avenue that the engineers decisions were appropriate and ethical. It can be said that the engineers did employ act utilitarianism in their decisions and actions, hence causing these decisions to be ethically correct. Act utilitarianism is essentially doing the right thing, which would benefit the majority of people, based on the situation that is currently taking place. One of the reasons that explains why the actions taken could be considered as ethically fine, was that if the dam was not opened, there would have been no other way to solve the increasing water levels in the dam. If no action was taken, there could have been seriously devastating effects, like the dam wall eroding due to water spilling over the dam wall, thus weakening the structure, or a loss of water flow control. Professor Hubert Chanson, a professor in hydraulic engineering in the University of Queensland, mentioned that the Wivenhoe Dam was actually designed as an embankment dam, hence it should not be overtopped, that is water should not be allowed to flow over the limits of the dam (Andersen 2011). Despite there being a secondary spillway, however it is recommended that spillway is not put to use, as the use of that spillway would mean that there would be a surge of water leaving the dam, and a loss of control of the water flow, w...
Capps, D., Clague, J.J., Pelto, B., Pelto, M. “Rising ELA and Expanding Proglacial Lakes Lead to Initiation of Rapid Retreat of Brady Glacier, Alaska.” 69th Eastern Snow Conference. Nichols, 2012. Web. 9. Feb. 2014.
The Hoover Dam is a modern marvel and a testament to American ingenuity. At over six million six hundred thousand tons and jetting seven hundred sixty feet from the canyon floor, six hundred sixty feet across the bottom and, one thousand two hundred forty four feet across the top, the structure is awe inspiring even to a modern audience. Three quarters of a century since its completion it still stands as a symbol of one of the greatest construction projects of the ages. The need for a dam to block the Colorado River was not a new idea when construction began in 1931, but had been mulled around since the dawn of the century. Flooding due to runoff from the Rocky Mountains had devastated crops, and a need for hydroelectric power increased the need for a dam. In 1922 Black Valley was chosen as the spot for the dam’s construction. No one construction company was large enough to take on the project alone, so a group of companies formed a joint venture in order to bid the job. The Six Companies Inc. made up of Morrison-Knudson, the J.F. Shea Company of Portland, MacDonald & Kahn Ltd, Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Henry J. Kaiser, Bechtel Company of San Francisco were awarded the winning bid for the dam at forty eight million eight hundred ninety thousand nine hundred fifty five dollars. The construction management team had a Herculean task in building this behemoth and faced many problems in its construction. A few of the major issues posed to the team were diverting the Colorado River, provisioning the men and material to get the job done, and the actual construction of the Hoover Dam. The heights involved with project led to many safety obstacles that had to be overcame.
With the rising sea level it has already submerged a northwest island in the Hawaii region. This island goes by the name of whale skate. This island has disappeared and the rest of the islands up in that region are at steak for being under water. The islands are housing wildlife that are found nowhere in the world except these islands and most of these animals are endangered.
... Kristovich. "Observations of the Cross-Lake Cloud and Snow Evolution in a Lake-Effect Snow Event." Monthly Weather Review 139.8 (2011): 2386-398. Print.
A third intake pipe was added by SNWA in September 2015 beneath Lake Mead in order to provide drinking water to southern Nevada residents (“Third,” n.d.; Tracy, 2015; “Nevada,” 2016). In 2016 the construction of a “low lake level pumping station” began and is meant to be finished by 2020, in addition to this project new reservoirs are being sought (“Low,” n.d.; “Nevada,” 2016). The plan of the SNWA appears to be to continue pumping and searching for new water resources, it would seem that the water supply problem has not been
A scenic by-product of Hoover Dam is the gigantic reservoir of Lake Mead, a stunningly beautiful water recreation wonderland. This boating, sailing, fishing and house-boating paradise attracts over 10 million visitors a year. Lake Mead covers 550 miles of majestic shoreline and 247 square miles of area which is twice the size of Rhode Island. Its capacity of 1 1/4 trillion cubic feet of water would cover the entire state of Pennsylvania one foot deep.
“Scientists attribute the change partly to greater winter precipitation and partly to a warmingof the permafrost and active layer, which they believe is now transporting more groundwater.”
"The Future of Hydropower." Macalester College: Private Liberal Arts College. Web. 03 Oct. 2011. .
The paragraphs below will prove that the construction and presence of dams always has and will continue to leave devastating effects on the environment around them. Firstly, to understand the thesis people must know what dams are. A dam is a barrier built across a water course to hold back or control water flow. Dams are classified as either storage, diversion or detention. As you could probably notice from it's name, storage dams are created to collect or hold water for periods of time when there is a surplus supply.
Changes are also being seen in snowpack, glaciers, sea ice and permafrost, and rain and snowfall rates, mostly in colder climates. Snowpack is decreasing due increasing temperatures causing snow to melt faster and earlier, and higher rainfall and less snow in high altitude cold areas, It is expected in the future that sno...