Morrow Point Dam | |
---|---|
Morrow Point Dam | |
Location | Cimarron, Gunnison County, Colorado, USA |
Coordinates | 38°27′07.25″N 107°32′17″W / 38.4520139°N 107.53806°W |
Construction began | 1963 |
Opening date | 1968 |
Operator(s) | U.S. Bureau of Reclamation |
Dam and spillways | |
Type of dam | Concrete thin arch |
Impounds | Gunnison River |
Height | 468 feet (143 m) |
Length | 724 feet (221 m) |
Width (crest) | 12 feet (3.7 m) |
Width (base) | 52 feet (16 m) |
Dam volume | 365,180 cu yd (279,200 m3) |
Spillway type | Four-orifice free-fall in center of dam face, fixed-wheel gates |
Spillway capacity | 41,000 cu ft/s (1,200 m3/s) |
Reservoir | |
Creates | Morrow Point Reservoir |
Total capacity | 117,190 acre-feet (0.14455 km3) |
Catchment area | 3,675 sq mi (9,520 km2) |
Surface area | 817 acres (331 ha) |
Power Station | |
Hydraulic head | 413 ft (126 m) |
Turbines | 2 x 86.667 MW turbines |
Installed capacity | 173.3 MW |
Annual generation | 269,193,371 KWh |
Morrow Point Dam is a 468-foot-tall (143 m) concrete double-arch dam on the Gunnison River located in Colorado, the first dam of its type built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Located in the upper Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it creates Morrow Point Reservoir, and is within the National Park Service-operated Curecanti National Recreation Area. The dam is between the Blue Mesa Dam (upstream) and the Crystal Dam (downstream). Morrow Point Dam and reservoir are part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, which retains the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries for agricultural and municipal use in the American Southwest.[1][2] The dam's primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation.[3]