Existing comment:
Crystal Dam:
Rising 227 feet above the streambed of the Gunnison River, Crystal Dam is a unique structure -- it curves from side to side and from top to bottom. This thin-arch, double-curvature design gives it exceptional strength. The free-form spillway is capable of releasing 42,000 cubic feet of water per second.
Crystal Dam plus upstream Morrow Point and Blue Mesa Dams comprise the Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project. Crystal serves as a regulating facility in this unit. Its six-mile long reservoir catches fluctuating releases from Morrow Point Dam and smooths out the flows in the Gunnison River. The powerplant at Crystal has one generating unit with a 31,000-kilowatt capacity.
Crystal Dam and Reservoir, constructed and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation, are part of the Colorado River Storage Project, a complex multi-state water development system. Features are located throughout the Upper Colorado River Basin which includes parts of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The dams and reservoirs of the storage project are operated to provide water for irrigation, municipal and industrial use, hydroelectric power generation, recreation, fish and wildlife. Most of the costs of building and operating the various features of the storage project are paid by the water and power users. Construction was completed on this facility in 1978. |