Lake of the Ozarks
The Lake of the Ozarks ( Ozarks Lake) is a large artificial reservoir on the Osage River in Miller County, Missouri.
Geography
It is located in the central Ozarks, a mountainous region in the Midwestern United States. In addition, open three smaller tributaries of the Osage in the reservoir, namely the Niangua River, the Grand Glaize River and Gravois Creek. The long, narrow reservoir has according to several sources, a surface of 223 or 337 km ², about 1850 km of shoreline, and in the longest direction it extends 148 km from one end to the other. At the time of its creation was the dam of one of the largest in the world and the largest in the United States. The catchment area is 36,000 km ².
Water is dammed the lake of the 45 m high and 775 m long Bagnell Dam, a gravity dam, which is also known as Osage Dam. The dam was built by the Union Electric Company of St. Louis August 6, 1929 to April in 1931 and is now used by AmerenUE (formerly Union Electric Company) operated which is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC ).
The spillway is 159 m long and the power plant with 156 m almost as long. The hydropower plant has eight generators with a capacity of 215 megawatts. After the Bauplanungen 13 flood openings were provided. However, only 12 have been installed and the 13th hole was sealed with concrete. The engineers said that 12 closures sufficient. It may also be that the administration wanted the misfortune -bringing figure avoid at Union Electric 13.
Originally the dam was built to generate electricity for customers of Union Electric in a hydroelectric power plant. But the lake was a major tourist attraction in the Midwest quickly. There are more than 70,000 houses on the lake, many of which are holiday homes. Also, the spectacular views of the Ozarks has helped to transform the lake into a large leisure recreation area. More than three million people visit the lake annually.
Importance as a recreational area
The Lake of the Ozarks is unique because it is the largest man-made lake in the U.S., but not providing flood protection. The water level fluctuates little more than 1.5 m. The normal altitude is 201.3 meters above sea level. Most of the shoreline is privately owned and relatively stable water level has created ideal conditions for private developments right on the shore. The lake is also known as coast of the Midwest ( Midwest Coast) known.
The stock market crash of 1929, a severe recession ( the Great Depression ) was followed, happened only a few months after construction began. Several thousand employees worked on the project and procured the rural area around the dam and the entire national economic recovery, just as jobs were scarce.
The lake is also the venue for the annual Independence Day held Party Cove, a primarily taking place on boats festivals.
Fish fauna
The artificial lake Lake of the Ozarks is in addition to its size and high recreational value also a popular water sport fishermen. Are fished mainly black bass ( Micropterus spp. ), Various catfish species such as flathead catfish ( Pylodictis olivaris ) Getüpfelter catfish ( Ictalurus punctatus ), or Blue catfish ( Ictalurus furcatus ), crappie ( Pomoxis spp. ), White ( Morone chrysops ) and Hybrid Bass, glass eyes perch and bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus ). There are also paddlefish, largemouth bass, striped bass, rainbow trout and many other fish species that are native to the Midwestern United States. For some species such as the blue catfish, there are now fishing regulations. There are also problems with entrained species such as the silver carp, the capital reaches weights in this lake. In the Lake of the Ozarks has been repeatedly reported by Piranha catches. The fish were identified as Natterers Sägesalmler. This seems unusual, since due to their temperature requirements piranhas only in the U.S. states such as Florida, Texas and California can survive with high year-round water temperatures. A research team tried in vain to prove that it is also in the winter would be a piranha population under certain circumstances possible to survive in the vicinity of ground water sources with higher water temperature prevailing there. But even here, there are temperatures that would reduce so much the activity of piranhas that they would be easy prey of largemouth bass, according to fisheries biologists.