Hoover Dam
River of Service
For millions of years, as the Colorado River followed its 1400-mile course from Colorado's
Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of
California, people, plants and animals have depended on its waters for sustenance.
Swollen by the melting snow that provides most of its water, the river frequently flooded
low-lying lands along its route in the
spring and early summer, destroying lives, crops, and property. In late summer and early
fall, it often dried to a trickle, too low to divert. To protect the low-lying lands from
flooding, and to assure a stable, year-round water supply, the river had to be harnessed.
Before the river could be harnessed, its waters had to be equitably divided among the
seven states it serves. In 1922, a representative from each state and the federal
government met for this purpose. The meetings resulted in the Colorado River Compact.
Signed in November 1922, the Compact divided the Colorado River Basin into an upper and
lower half, and gave half of the river's annual estimated flow to each basin. Division of
each basin's apportionment was left to the states in that basin.
An Engineering Wonder
The Compact paved the way for the construction of storage dams and delivery facilities on
the Colorado River, and, in 1928,
Congress passed the Boulder Canyon Project Act, authorizing construction of Hoover Dam.
Hoover Dam was without precedent, the greatest dam of its day; it is still a
world-renowned structure. Located in Black Canyon between Nevada and Arizona, the dam is a
National Historic Landmark and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. In 1994,
the American Society of Civil Engineers named it one of America's Seven Modern Civil
Engineering Wonders.
Construction of Hoover Dam began in 1931, and the last concrete was poured in 1935 - 2
years ahead of schedule. (President
Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the dam on September 30, 1935.) The powerplant wings were
completed in 1936, and the first generator began operation in October of that year. The
17th and final generator went into commercial operation in 1961. Hoover Dam's reservoir,
Lake Mead, is America's largest man-made reservoir. Named for Reclamation Commissioner Dr.
Elwood Mead, it can store 28.5 million acre-feet (9.2 trillion gallons!) of water, or
nearly 2 years of the river's average annual flow. (An acre-foot of water would cover a
football field to a depth of one foot.)
Hoover Dam is named for Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States. (It has
also been called Boulder Dam; the
name Hoover Dam was permanently restored by Congress in 1947.) President Hoover strongly
supported construction of a high concrete dam on the Colorado River to control its flows,
provide irrigation water to nearby farmlands, and provide a dependable supply of water for
southern California communities. He advocated that the Boulder Canyon Project be
self-supporting, financed entirely through the sale of hydroelectric power generated at
the dam, which it is today.
Multipurpose Benefits
Hoover Dam's authorized purposes are: "flood control; improvement of navigation and
regulation of the Colorado River; storage and delivery of Colorado River waters for
reclamation of public lands and other beneficial uses exclusively within the United
States; and hydroelectric power production." The water storage and river control
Hoover and subsequent downstream dams and water delivery projects provide enables modern
man to use the waters of the lower Colorado River for many purposes:
Irrigation of more than one million acres of land in the United States and nearly half a
million acres in Mexico. These croplands,
some of America's richest, grow a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, cotton, wheat, and
hay throughout the year, generating
millions of dollars for local economies.
Meeting the domestic water needs of more than 18 million people in homes and businesses in
Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, and other southwestern cities, towns
and Indian communities in Arizona, Nevada, and California.
Generation of low-cost hydroelectric power for use in Nevada, Arizona, and California.
Hoover Dam alone generates more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours a year - enough to serve 1.3
million people. From 1939 to 1949, Hoover Powerplant was the world's largest hydroelectric
installation; with an installed capacity of 2.08 million kilowatts, it is still one of the
country's largest.
Hoover Dam's $165 million cost has been repaid, with interest, to the Federal Treasury
through the sale of its power. Hoover Dam energy is marketed by the Western Area Power
Administration to 15 entities in Arizona, California, and Nevada under contracts which
expire in 2017. Most of this power, 56 percent, goes to southern California users; Arizona
contractors receive 19 percent, and Nevada users get 25 percent. The revenues from the
sale of this power now pay for the dam's operation and
maintenance. The power contractors also paid for the uprating of the powerplant's
nameplate capacity from 1.3 million to over 2.0 million kilowatts.
Recreation, although a by-product, constitutes a major use of the lakes and controlled
flows created by Hoover and other dams on the lower Colorado River today. Lake Mead is one
of America's most popular recreation areas, with a 12-month season that attracts more than
9 million visitors each year for swimming, boating, skiing, and fishing. The lake and
surrounding area are administered by the National Park Service as part of the Lake Mead
National Recreation Area, which also includes Lake Mohave downstream from Hoover Dam.
Several wildlife refuges and backwaters have been constructed along the lower river to
replace habitat lost with construction of
the dams. River water is provided to these facilities, which create important habitat for
native and introduced species. The river is also operated to the extent possible to
protect native fish species and help them recover in population.
