Crystal Dam
Crystal Dam is a 323-foot-tall double curvature, concrete thin arch dam located six miles downstream from Morrow Point Dam on the Gunnison River in Colorado, United States. Crystal Dam is the newest of the three dams in Curecanti National Recreation Area; the dam impounds Crystal Reservoir. Crystal Dam and reservoir are part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, which retains the waters of the Gunnison River and its tributaries for agricultural and municipal use in the American Southwest; the dam's primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation. Crystal Dam, like the higher Morrow Point Dam farther upstream, is a thin-shell arch dam planned to generate hydroelectric power. Unlike its upstream companions, excess water spills over the top of the dam through a notched-out ungated spillway that can create a 227 feet waterfall in times of overflow. Under normal conditions the river flows through an 11.5 feet penstock to the 28 MW turbine. The dam is deep within the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in pre-Cambrian metamorphic rock.
Crystal Dam was the last of the three dams in the Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project to be completed. Crystal Dam's design and construction lagged behind Morrow Blue Mesa dams. Construction started in 1964 on a materials borrow pit, with construction at the damsite beginning in 1965 for an access road and exploratory drilling. Work stopped for five years. Planned as an earthfill dam, the design was changed to a double-curvature thin-shell concrete arch dam. After an initial bidding process in which all bid were rejected as too high, a contract for the diversion tunnel was awarded in 1972, holed through the same year; the construction contract for the dam itself was awarded to the J. F. Shea Company in June 1973. Cofferdam work continued into 1974, encountering problems with leakage though the upstream cofferdam. 24 inches wells were drilled below the cofferdam to intercept water. In the meantime the dam foundation was excavated, with first concrete placement in June. Excavation and concrete work for the powerplant started the same year.
Concrete work stopped in November, resuming in April 1975. Work was behind schedule. Concrete work resumed in April 1976, with final completion of the dam structure on August 30, 1976. Filling operations in the reservoir began on March 14, 1977, permanently blocking the diversion tunnel on April 12; the powerplant was not completed until 1978, victim of a fire in the contractor's warehouse that destroyed many electrical components intended for the plant. Because of Crystal Dam's then-new design, as a result of the failure of the contemporary Teton Dam in 1976, Crystal Dam was inspected in 1978 by divers to verify the integrity of the structure. Crystal Dam at the Bureau of Reclamation Crystal Powerplant at the Bureau of Reclamation Wayne N. Aspinall Storage Unit at Curecanti National Recreation Area
Delta, Colorado
The City of Delta is the Home Rule Municipality, the county seat and the most populous municipality of Delta County, United States. The population was 8,915 at the 2010 census, up from 6,400 at the 2000 census; the United States Forest Service headquarters of the Grand Mesa and Uncompahgre National Forests are located in Delta. Delta was built as a trading post for early settlers. Fort Uncompahgre was built in 1828; the town was named because of its location on the delta where the Uncompahgre River flows into the Gunnison River. The town was incorporated in 1882. Delta is located in southwestern Delta County at 38°44′27″N 108°3′48″W; the downtown area is situated east of the Uncompaghre River. The city limits extend north across the Gunnison into the area now known as "North Delta" west 6 miles along U. S. Route 50 as far as Westwinds Airport. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14.0 square miles, of which 13.7 square miles is land and 0.3 square miles, or 2.02%, is water.
Delta is part of the Colorado Western Slope region. Parks: Pow Wow Arbor Mountain View Pavilion Riley Pavilion / Cleland Park Shade Pavilion Island Cottonwood Park Emerald Hills Park As of the census of 2010, there were 8,915 people, 3,530 households, 2,337 families residing in the city; the population density was 1,682.1 people per square mile. There were 3,825 housing units at an average density of 721.7 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 82.2% White, 0.2% African American, 1.1% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 12.5% from other races, 3.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 26.1% of the population. There were 3,530 households out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.3% were married couples living together, 11.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 33.8% were non-families. 30.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.8% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49, the average family size was 3.08.
In the city, the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 23.2% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, 17.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.0 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.0 males. Fort Uncompahgre was built in 1828, established as a fur trading post by Antoine Robidoux. Tour guides dress in period attire and trap beavers, make buckskins, knap arrowheads, work the forge; the principal newspaper is the Delta County Independent, published weekly on Wednesdays. Local readers enjoy The High Country Shopper, a free paper that distributes over 15,000 copies throughout the county. Montrose Regional Airport, located 21 miles south of Delta, is the closest airport served by scheduled airlines. In Grand Junction, 39 miles to the north, there are scheduled airline services, as well as an Amtrak train station with a daily California Zephyr departure in each direction. U. S. Highway 50 runs east-west, crossing 12 states and linking Sacramento, with Ocean City, Maryland.
In Colorado, it passes through Delta as Main Street and connects the city to Montrose, Grand Junction and Pueblo. State Highway 65 is a 61-mile stretch that runs north from State Highway 92 east of Delta, over the Grand Mesa, to Interstate 70 near Palisade. State Highway 92 begins at the intersection of Main Street and First Street, it runs 73 miles to the east, re-encountering US 50 near Blue Mesa Reservoir and Curecanti National Recreation Area. Chuck Cottier, baseball player and manager Dale Ishimoto, American actor Frank H. Ono, Medal of Honor recipient Felix L. Sparks, American army general Egyptian Theatre Borowsky and Cleary, Brooke, "Delta's King of Kings: The Egyptian Theatre and the Bank Night Craze". Colorado Heritage Summer 2002: pp. 2–15 Ferguson, Olivia Spalding, "A Sketch of Delta County History". The Colorado Magazine 5: pp. 161–164 City of Delta official website CDOT map of the City of Delta Delta Area Chamber of Commerce Delta County Independent
Crystal Reservoir
Crystal Reservoir is a 340-acre artificial reservoir on the Gunnison River in western Colorado. Located in the upper Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the lake was created in 1976 by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation as part of a larger plan to impound the upper section of the Gunnison for the generation of hydroelectric power, water storage, public recreation. Crystal Reservoir is managed by the National Park Service as an element of the Curecanti National Recreation Area. Located at the far western end of Curecanti, Crystal Reservoir is the smallest, least developed, least accessible of the three reservoirs within the park. Crystal Reservoir is part of the Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, a Bureau of Reclamation project that retains the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries, such as the Gunnison, for agricultural and municipal use. Crystal Reservoir was created by the impoundment of the Gunnison River 6 miles west of Morrow Point Dam by Crystal Dam, a 323-ft.
Concrete double-arch dam built by the Bureau of Reclamation. The last of three reservoirs impounded for the Aspinall Unit, construction on Crystal Dam began in 1973, 5 years after the completion of Morrow Point Dam and 7 years after the completion of Blue Mesa Dam; the western most of the three reservoirs, Crystal is the last impoundment before the river enters the deep and dangerous Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Crystal Reservoir is part of the Curecanti National Recreation Area, a National Park Service administered area responsible for developing and managing recreation facilities on the three reservoirs of the Aspinall Unit. Recreational opportunities at Crystal include boating and hiking. There are two small developed areas near the reservoir, Mesa Creek Trailhead and Crystal Creek Trailhead. Mesa Creek Trailhead is located west of Point Morrow Dam, can be accessed from a one-mile road running north of U. S. 50 at Cimarron. Hand-launched watercraft can be launched into Crystal from Mesa Creek.
A single boat-in campsite is located 4 miles west of Mesa Creek at the mouth of Crystal Creek. Mesa Creek is the trailhead for the Mesa Creek Trail, a to moderately strenuous 1.5 mile round trip that crosses the reservoir on a footbridge and travels west along the north shore. Though Mesa Creek is a day-use facility, developed campsites are available at nearby Cimarron. Crystal Creek Trailhead is located on Colorado Highway 92, 24 miles west of Blue Mesa Dam and offers access to the 5-mile Crystal Creek Trail. Moderately strenuous, Crystal Creek trail does reach the water but ends at an overlook 1800 ft. above the reservoir. List of largest reservoirs of Colorado Colorado River Storage Project Crystal Dam Curecanti National Recreation Area Blue Mesa Reservoir Morrow Point Reservoir NPS: Curecanti National Recreation Area Bureau of Reclamation: Crystal Dam
Sapinero, Colorado
Sapinero is an unincorporated community located on U. S. Highway 50, along the shore of Blue Mesa Reservoir in the Curecanti National Recreation Area in Gunnison County, United States; the U. S. Post Office at Gunnison now serves Sapinero postal addresses; the community was named after a Ute Indian. Sapinero's original location was on the north bank of the Gunnison River, just downstream from the mouth of Soap Creek, at about one mile north of its current location. Sapinero was a stop on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad's narrow gauge main line between Denver and Salt Lake City; the narrow gauge's final abandonment came in 1955. In about 1963, when Blue Mesa Dam was built on the Gunnison River below Sapinero, the town was moved and re-established in its present location, prior to the area's inundation by the water of Blue Mesa Reservoir. Climate type is dominated by the winter season, a long, bitterly cold period with short, clear days little precipitation in the form of snow, low humidity; the Köppen Climate Classification sub-type for this climate is "Dfc".
List of cities and towns in Colorado
Glen Canyon Dam
Glen Canyon Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam on the Colorado River in northern Arizona, United States, near the town of Page. The 710-foot high dam was built by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation from 1956 to 1966 and forms Lake Powell, one of the largest man-made reservoirs in the U. S. with a capacity of 27 million acre feet. The dam is named for a series of deep sandstone gorges now flooded by the reservoir. A dam in Glen Canyon was studied as early as 1924, but these plans were dropped in favor of the Hoover Dam, located in the Black Canyon. By the 1950s, due to rapid population growth in the seven U. S. and two Mexican states comprising the Colorado River Basin, the Bureau of Reclamation deemed the construction of additional reservoirs necessary. However, the USBR faced opposition when it proposed the Echo Park Dam in Utah's Dinosaur National Monument, which the nascent environmental movement saw as a legal threat to the status of protected lands. After a long fight, the USBR agreed not to build the dam in Dinosaur National Monument, but only if the environmentalists did not oppose the proposed dam in Glen Canyon.
Since first filling to capacity in 1980, Lake Powell water levels have fluctuated depending on water demand and annual runoff. Operation of Glen Canyon Dam helps ensure an equitable distribution of water between the states of the Upper Colorado River Basin and the Lower Basin. During years of drought, Glen Canyon guarantees a water delivery to the Lower Basin states, without the need for rationing in the Upper Basin. In wet years, it captures extra runoff for future use; the dam is a major source of hydroelectricity, averaging over 4 billion kilowatt hours per year. The long and winding Lake Powell, known for its scenic beauty and recreational opportunities including houseboating and water-skiing, attracts millions of tourists each year to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. In addition to its flooding of the scenic Glen Canyon, the dam's economic justification was questioned by some critics, it became "a catalyst for the modern environmental movement," and was one of the last dams of its size to be built in the United States.
The dam has been criticized for the large evaporative losses from Lake Powell and its impact on the ecology of the Grand Canyon, which lies downstream. Water managers and utilities state that the dam is a major source of renewable energy and provides a vital defense against severe droughts; the Colorado River is the single largest source of water in the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. Annual discharge from the Colorado River and its tributaries ranges from 4 to 22 million acre feet, 10-year averages may fluctuate as much as 1 million acre feet. Flooding, the river's enormous silt or sediment load, created problems for settlements in the Lower Colorado River Valley and navigation on the lower portion of the river. During droughts, there was too little water available for irrigation. In 1904, the Colorado River was accidentally redirected after it damaged a canal gate in Mexico, causing the river to flood part of California's Imperial Valley and create the Salton Sea. After this catastrophe and Arizona began to call for a dam to control the tempestuous river.
In 1922, six U. S. states signed the Colorado River Compact to allocate the flow of the Colorado River and its tributaries. Each half of the Colorado River Basin – the Upper Basin, comprising Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming – and the Lower Basin, with California and Nevada – was allotted 7.5 million acre feet of water annually, a treaty between the U. S. and Mexico was signed in 1944 allocating 1.5 million acre feet to Mexico. The third lower basin state, did not ratify the Compact until 1944 because it was concerned that California might seek to appropriate a portion of its share before it could be put to use; the total, 16.5 million acre feet, was based on only thirty years of streamflow records starting in the late 1890s. It was believed to represent the annual flow as measured at Lee's Ferry, Arizona, 16 miles downstream of present-day Glen Canyon Dam; as it turned out, the early 20th century was one of the wettest periods in the last 800 years. The dependable natural flow past Lees Ferry is now believed to be about 13.5 to 14.6 million acre feet.
The general consensus among inhabitants of the Colorado River basin and government officials was that a high dam had to be built on the Colorado to control floods and provide carry-over water storage for times of drought. Possible locations for this dam were debated for years, in fact the Bureau of Reclamation's first study for a dam at Glen Canyon was made in 1924, in addition to studies for locations at Black and Boulder Canyons lower on the Colorado, below Grand Canyon; these studies found that the lower Colorado sites had stronger foundation rock which might result in less reservoir seepage. The Glen Canyon site, was so remote that delivering supplies and transporting workers there would be infeasible at the time. However, what killed the first Glen Canyon proposal was the fact that it lies upstream of the Lee's Ferry dividing line, thus would be considered the Upper Basin's water. With its substantial Congressional clout, Cal
Reservoir
A reservoir is, most an enlarged natural or artificial lake, pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupting a watercourse to form an embayment within it, through excavation, or building any number of retaining walls or levees. Defined as a storage space for fluids, reservoirs may hold gasses, including hydrocarbons. Tank reservoirs elevated, or buried tanks. Tank reservoirs for water are called cisterns. Most underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum, below ground. Reservoir is most an enlarged natural or artificial lake. A dam constructed in a valley relies on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. Dams are located at a narrow part of a valley downstream of a natural basin; the valley sides act as natural walls, with the dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength and the lowest cost of construction.
In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, historical artifacts moved or rare environments relocated. Examples include the temples of Abu Simbel, the relocation of the village of Capel Celyn during the construction of Llyn Celyn, the relocation of Borgo San Pietro of Petrella Salto during the construction of Lake Salto. Construction of a reservoir in a valley will need the river to be diverted during part of the build through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs, the new top water level exceeds the watershed height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales. In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir. Where the topography is poorly suited to a single large reservoir, a number of smaller reservoirs may be constructed in a chain, as in the River Taff valley where the Llwyn-on, Cantref and Beacons Reservoirs form a chain up the valley.
Coastal reservoirs are fresh water storage reservoirs located on the sea coast near the river mouth to store the flood water of a river. As the land based reservoir construction is fraught with substantial land submergence, coastal reservoir is preferred economically and technically since it does not use scarce land area. Many coastal reservoirs were constructed in Europe. Saemanguem in South Korea, Marina Barrage in Singapore and Plover Cove in China, etc are few existing coastal reservoirs. Where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or size, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water; such reservoirs are formed by excavation and by building a complete encircling bund or embankment, which may exceed 6 km in circumference. Both the floor of the reservoir and the bund must have an impermeable lining or core: these were made of puddled clay, but this has been superseded by the modern use of rolled clay; the water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may reduce many contaminants and eliminate any turbidity.
The use of bank-side reservoirs allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time, when the river is unacceptably polluted or when flow conditions are low due to drought. The London water supply system is one example of the use of bank-side storage: the water is taken from the River Thames and River Lee. Service reservoirs store treated potable water close to the point of distribution. Many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers as elevated structures on concrete pillars where the landscape is flat. Other service reservoirs can be entirely underground in more hilly or mountainous country. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs, sometimes called cisterns, built in the 1800s, most of which are lined with brick. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909; when it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe. This reservoir now forms part of the southern extension of the Thames Water Ring Main.
The top of the reservoir is now used by the Aquarius Golf Club. Service reservoirs perform several functions, including ensuring sufficient head of water in the water distribution system and providing water capacity to out peak demand from consumers, enabling the treatment plant to run at optimum efficiency. Large service reservoirs can be managed to reduce the cost of pumping, by refilling the reservoir at times of day when energy costs are low. Circa 3 000 BC, the craters of extinct volcanoes in Arabia were used as reservoirs by farmers for their irrigation water. Dry climate and water scarcity in India led to early development of stepwells and water resource management techniques, including the building of a reservoir at Girnar in 3000 BC. Artificial lakes dating to the 5th century BC have been found in ancient Greece; the artificial Bhojsagar lake in present-day Madhya Pradesh state of India, constructed in the 11th century, covered 650 square kilometres. In Sri Lanka large reservoirs were created by ancient Sinhalese kings in order to save the water for irrigation.
The famous Sri Lankan king Pa
Colorado
Colorado is a state of the Western United States encompassing most of the southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. It is the 8th most extensive and 21st most populous U. S. state. The estimated population of Colorado was 5,695,564 on July 1, 2018, an increase of 13.25% since the 2010 United States Census. The state was named for the Colorado River, which early Spanish explorers named the Río Colorado for the ruddy silt the river carried from the mountains; the Territory of Colorado was organized on February 28, 1861, on August 1, 1876, U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed Proclamation 230 admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state. Colorado is nicknamed the "Centennial State" because it became a state one century after the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence. Colorado is bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas to the east, Oklahoma to the southeast, New Mexico to the south, Utah to the west, touches Arizona to the southwest at the Four Corners.
Colorado is noted for its vivid landscape of mountains, high plains, canyons, plateaus and desert lands. Colorado is part of the western and southwestern United States, is one of the Mountain States. Denver is most populous city of Colorado. Residents of the state are known as Coloradans, although the antiquated term "Coloradoan" is used. Colorado is notable for its diverse geography, which includes alpine mountains, high plains, deserts with huge sand dunes, deep canyons. In 1861, the United States Congress defined the boundaries of the new Territory of Colorado by lines of latitude and longitude, stretching from 37°N to 41°N latitude, from 102°02'48"W to 109°02'48"W longitude. After 158 years of government surveys, the borders of Colorado are now defined by 697 boundary markers and 697 straight boundary lines. Colorado and Utah are the only states that have their borders defined by straight boundary lines with no natural features; the southwest corner of Colorado is the Four Corners Monument at 36°59'56"N, 109°2'43"W.
This is the only place in the United States where four states meet: Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The summit of Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet elevation in Lake County is the highest point in Colorado and the Rocky Mountains of North America. Colorado is the only U. S. state that lies above 1,000 meters elevation. The point where the Arikaree River flows out of Yuma County and into Cheyenne County, Kansas, is the lowest point in Colorado at 3,317 feet elevation; this point, which holds the distinction of being the highest low elevation point of any state, is higher than the high elevation points of 18 states and the District of Columbia. A little less than half of Colorado is flat and rolling land. East of the Rocky Mountains are the Colorado Eastern Plains of the High Plains, the section of the Great Plains within Nebraska at elevations ranging from 3,350 to 7,500 feet; the Colorado plains are prairies but include deciduous forests and canyons. Precipitation averages 15 to 25 inches annually. Eastern Colorado is presently farmland and rangeland, along with small farming villages and towns.
Corn, hay and oats are all typical crops. Most villages and towns in this region boast both a grain elevator. Irrigation water is available from subterranean sources. Surface water sources include the South Platte, the Arkansas River, a few other streams. Subterranean water is accessed through artesian wells. Heavy use of wells for irrigation caused underground water reserves to decline. Eastern Colorado hosts considerable livestock, such as hog farms. 70% of Colorado's population resides along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains in the Front Range Urban Corridor between Cheyenne and Pueblo, Colorado. This region is protected from prevailing storms that blow in from the Pacific Ocean region by the high Rockies in the middle of Colorado; the "Front Range" includes Denver, Fort Collins, Castle Rock, Colorado Springs, Pueblo and other townships and municipalities in between. On the other side of the Rockies, the significant population centers in Western Colorado are the cities of Grand Junction and Montrose.
The Continental Divide of the Americas extends along the crest of the Rocky Mountains. The area of Colorado to the west of the Continental Divide is called the Western Slope of Colorado. West of the Continental Divide, water flows to the southwest via the Colorado River and the Green River into the Gulf of California. Within the interior of the Rocky Mountains are several large parks which are high broad basins. In the north, on the east side of the Continental Divide is the North Park of Colorado; the North Park is drained by the North Platte River, which flows north into Nebraska. Just to the south of North Park, but on the western side of the Continental Divide, is the Middle Park of Colorado, drained by the Colorado River; the South Park of Colorado is the region of the headwaters of the South Platte River. In southmost Colorado is the large San Luis Valley, where the headwaters of the Rio Grande are located; the valley sits between the Sangre De Cristo Mountains and San Juan Mountains, consists of large desert lands that run into the mountains.
The Rio Grande drains due south into New Mexico and Texas. Across the Sangre de Cristo Range to the east of the S
