dam(n) america

we are almost due to leave america now, but i thought i would get in a quick post about one of the highlights of our trips...the dams ; ) - i should clarify probably that i am joking...but i cant completely deny that i am a water engineer.

we have been to three (3) now. possibly two more than most normal people would visit (most people would go to the hoover dam - am i right? ; )

the first was bonneville dam on the columbia river. i think there are 10 on the columbia all up so i guess it was lucky that we only went to one of them...but this one was actually kinda interesting. it was constructed in the 30's - to try to get america out of the depression. i had thought that fish ladders (ways to let the fish (salmon mostly) still migrate upstream) were a fairly recent invention, but they were looking for ways to let the fish upstream even then. first they constructed a naturalish stream around the dam, but that didnt seem to attract the fish for some reason, then they built a fish elevator to move the fish up the dam, but they didnt catch onto that either. by far the most successful way to still allow fish upstream has been the fish ladder. they have windows on a section of it so you can see them swim past -which is quite cool. unfortunately some fish still cant use the ladder, so they have a fish hatchery downstream where they breed sturgeon&trout.



the spillway - they let this water through so the little fish dont have to go through the turbines to get downstream the fish ladder - there were people fishing at the downstream end which i thought was a bit unsporting.
salmon swimming upstream to spawn

a sturgeon, they are prehistoric apparently and these ones were massive -about 3m long i reckon


next on the list was glen canyon dam. not nearly as interesting - no fish ladder, just a heap of concrete in a canyon. this dam controls the flow of water in the colorado river as it flows through the grand canyon. it has completely changed the quantity/quality of the water that flows through the grand canyon in that it has hardly any sediment and is alot colder than it would normally be...it does produce quite a bit of power.




glen canyon dam with 'lake' powell behind it


then it was onto the mother of all dams (in reputation at least - although i am not sure if it is actually bigger than the glen canyon) the Hoover. This dams the colorado again downstream of the grand canyon, providing a water source for las vegas amongst other uses. i quite liked the art deco styling of the dam (it was almost like going to the movies) but otherwise this was a bit of a tourist mecca so we didnt hang around too long.


these dams are of course quite controversial - completely changing the river system, but they do provide a renewable source of energy...i dunno... i liked the first one we visited because it is trying to find a balance between the different uses for water and not just using all the water for power generation.




jenai and i on the dam wall
its a bloody long way down


mr (tanned) hudson on the dam wall


well, i hope you have enjoyed my attempt at an educational post! of course we have seen a few things other than dams on our trip - seattle, a heap of national parks including the grand canyon, vegas, laughlin (poor man's vegas, but equally as entertaining) and more recently the stunning city of San Fran. It has all been amazing and one day i will get around to blogging about it...but for now, we have to keep on truckin - we are on our way to LA where we fly home (with a week in fiji on route ;-)

xxx