Glen Canyon Dam

In an earlier post, I said Glen Canyon Dam is smaller than Hoover Dam.  Well, I guess it depends on how you define it.  Hoover is taller, Glen is wider, Hoover holds more water, and Glen has more tons of concrete.  Glen Canyon is definitely less full of tourists, which is good!

We went on a tour of the dam.  Very interesting hearing how they have to have to control water so closely.  The water in Lake Powell supplies millions of people down river.  The fact that more people are moving into the area downstream is causing lots of problems.  Electricity is just a by-product of the dam, control of water is the real purpose.  Interesting point was that the nearby coal power plant makes three times more power. 

Down at the bottom are two acres of grass.  The grass keeps the dirt from eroding while the dirt reduces vibration from the water flow in the pipes.  John and another guy on the tour just wanted to play a round of golf!

We got to see the electric generators.  They were rebuilding one set.  Since I used to manage repairs of large gearboxes, it was fascinating to see what they had to do.  They have a machine shop within the dam to do any machining they need to do.  That would certainly have made it easier years ago at the Uhrichsville plant.