New Melones Dam

The New Melones Dam is a dam on the Stanislaus River, the dams that the New Melones Lake. The dam is located in the hills of the lower Sierra Nevada near Jamestown, 65 km east of Stockton in Tuolumne County, California, United States.

The United States Bureau of Reclamation operates the dam. Their main purpose is to provide water for irrigation purposes. The shut-off is a 190 meter high curved rock -fill dam, which was completed in 1979. The dam is one of the 70 highest in the world and the reservoir is among the largest 150 It has a volume of 2.96 billion cubic meters.

Hydroelectric power station

At the foot of the dam is a hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 300 megawatts. It has three vertical Francis turbines standing and a hydraulic head of 140 meters. The power plant can operate at low capacity and serves the peak demand; This means that most often operates at times of the day when the power demand is highest.

Controversies

The dam was one of the last to be built in California after the environmental movement had become increasingly stronger. The dam was opposed by groups such as the Sierra Club, as well as by many individuals who thought the value of the canyon of the Stanislaus River for much more valuable than the reservoir. On May 20, 1979 Mark Dubois penetrated the dam construction site and chained themselves to a boulder in the river bed, to prevent the United States Army Corps of Engineers from filling the reservoir. His protest had the success that at times the rapids above the Parrott 's Ferry Bridge was backed up in their inventory. Nevertheless, it was founded in 1982 allows the reservoir could be filled to its full capacity.