Information that you can use:
Spillway House is presently under construction
near the Nevada Spillway.
Please take care when walking near the worksite.
Location: Arizona and Nevada, USA
Completion Date: 1936
Cost: $165 million
Reservoir Capacity: 1.24 trillion cubic feet
Type: Arch/ Gravity
Purpose: Hydroelectric power/flood control
Reservoir: Lake Mead
Engineers: Bureau of Reclamation
The Hoover Dam is a curved gravity dam. Lake Mead pushes against the dam, creating compressive forces that travel along the great curved wall. The canyon walls push back, counteracting these forces. This action squeezes the concrete in the arch together, making the dam very rigid. This way, Lake Mead can't push it over.
Today, the Hoover Dam is the second highest dam in the country and the 18th highest in the world. It generates more than four billion kilowatt-hours a year, that's enough to serve 1.3 million people!