Bringing water to the desert
More than 40 years ago, the US Dept. of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation proposed a grand scheme for meeting the water demands of arid central and southern Arizona. The plan: Construct a 330-mile-long system of concrete-lined canals, inverted siphons, tunnels, pumping plants, and pipelines to convey water from the Colorado River on Arizona's western border across the state. People scoffed. They said it could never be done. During the fall of 1992, Reclamation will prove those doubters wrong as it completes the New Waddell dam and Waddell Pump-Generating Plant on the Agua Fria River northwest of Phoenix. The Waddell complex will substantially complete the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which will deliver an average of 1.5 million acre-feet of water each year to cities and industries, Indian communities, and farmers. The water will largely replace existing ground water uses and supplement surface water supplies. The CAP also will provide hydroelectric generation, flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife benefits. The New Waddell Dam is at the site of the existing Lake Pleasant and Waddell Dam 30 miles northwest of Phoenix. Reclamation built a 5-mile canal, leading from the CAP aqueduct north, to deliver water to the Waddell complex. At the Waddell Pump/Generating Plant, water from the canal will be pumped with four reversible pump/generator units and four pumping-only units into Lake Pleasant during the winter, when energy costs for pumping are low. Water then will be released from the lake into the aqueduct for irrigation and electrical generation during the summer months. Thus, the plant will operate as a [open quotes]seasonal[close quotes] pumped-storage facility. New Waddell Dam will help ensure the CAP's reliability by providing a water supply (the stored water in Lake Pleasant) even if diversions from the Colorado river into the aqueduct have to be temporarily halted. It will also reduce summer pumping requirements from the Colorado River.
- OSTI ID:
- 5631438
- Journal Information:
- Hydro Review; (United States), Vol. 11:6; ISSN 0884-0385
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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