Lake Tahoe Dam

Lake Tahoe Dam
CountryUnited States
LocationPlacer County, California.
StatusOperational
Opening date1913; 111 years ago (1913)

Lake Tahoe Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Truckee River, at the outlet of Lake Tahoe in Placer County, California.

Tahoe Dam regulates the top six feet of Lake Tahoe, and distributes the water into Tahoe's primary outflow, the Truckee River.[1] The dam is located in Tahoe City and serves as the main storage facility for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Newlands Project that also includes the Lahontan Dam and two diversion dams, providing irrigation water for 55,000 acres (22,000 ha) of cropland mainly in the Lahontan Valley of western Nevada.[2] The present Lake Tahoe dam replaced an older, privately owned dam built in 1870 at roughly the same location.[3]

The dam was built between 1909 and 1913 and stands 18.2 ft (5.5 m) high and 109 ft (33 m) long, raising Lake Tahoe by up to 10.1 ft (3.1 m).[4] Outflows from the dam are regulated by a gated spillway with 17 bays, with a maximum release capacity of 2,100 cubic feet per second (59 m3/s). It is situated 400 feet downstream from the lake's natural shore. This is meant to help hydraulic control during a dry season with low water levels.[5] The reservoir receives water from a catchment of 505 sq mi (1,310 km2) and has a maximum storage capacity of 732,000 acre⋅ft (0.903 km3).[6]

  1. ^ "Bureau of Reclamation". www.usbr.gov. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  2. ^ "Newlands Project". U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2011-05-11. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  3. ^ "Lake Tahoe Storage". Truckee Meadows Water Authority. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  4. ^ "Lake Tahoe Dam Dimensions". Newlands Project. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2012-08-13.
  5. ^ "Truckee River Chronology". State of Nevada Division of Water Resources.
  6. ^ "Lake Tahoe Dam Hydraulics & Hydrology". Newlands Project. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. 2008-10-30. Retrieved 2012-08-13.