Monticello Dam
Monticello Dam is a dam in Napa County, California, United States.
Monticello Dam was constructed between 1953 and 1957. The dam is a medium concrete-arch dam with a structural height of 304 ft (93 m) and a crest length of 1023 ft (312 m). It contains 326,000 cubic yards (249,000 m³) of concrete.
The dam impounds Putah Creek to form Lake Berryessa, the second-largest lake in California. The capacity of the reservoir is 1.602 million acre-feet (1.98 km³). Water from the reservoir is supplied mostly to the North Bay area of San Francisco.
The Monticello Dam Powerplant was built at the dam in 1983 and has three generators. The electrical power is sent mostly to the North Bay area of San Francisco.
The dam is notable for its classic, uncontrolled spillway with a rate of 48,400 cubic feet per second (1370 m³/s) and a diameter at the lip of 87 feet (22 m).
Monticello Dam was constructed between 1953 and 1957. The dam is a medium concrete-arch dam with a structural height of 304 ft (93 m) and a crest length of 1023 ft (312 m). It contains 326,000 cubic yards (249,000 m³) of concrete.
The dam impounds Putah Creek to form Lake Berryessa, the second-largest lake in California. The capacity of the reservoir is 1.602 million acre-feet (1.98 km³). Water from the reservoir is supplied mostly to the North Bay area of San Francisco.
The Monticello Dam Powerplant was built at the dam in 1983 and has three generators. The electrical power is sent mostly to the North Bay area of San Francisco.
The dam is notable for its classic, uncontrolled spillway with a rate of 48,400 cubic feet per second (1370 m³/s) and a diameter at the lip of 87 feet (22 m).
The Monticello Dam overlook is an increasingly popular place as people begin to learn more about their watershed. Built by the United States Government and Solano County (Napa and Yolo Counties opted out) in the mid 1950's, Monticello Dam is operated by Solano County and the resultant reservoir is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The reservoir has a drainage basin of about 360,000 acres, and at normal annual rainfall, it would take 4.5 years to fill up if outflow, infiltration and surface evaporation were ignored and "zeroed out". However, the winters of 1994-95, 95-96, and 96-97 were wet enough to fill the reservoir completely and spill water down the large "Glory Hole" spillway drain visible just beyond the dam. Named for the Morning Glory flower whose shape it resembles, it draws numerous visitors, and its eerie image is captured in many a photograph.
Photo by johnbullasThe construction of a Monticello Reservoir of this capacity will flood the Berryessa Valley which is now utilized from the growing of orchards, vineyards, grain, alfalfa, corn, and pasture grasses. There is a gross area of about 16,700 acres of good agricultural land in the site for a 1,600,000-acre-foot reservoir, most of which is now in use largely for dry farming. Several hundred acres of this land, however, are now irrigated. The owners of this valley and many of the people in Napa County where it is located oppose the Monticello Dam site because these lands will be inundated and the taxable wealth lost to the county. Although it will be necessary to destroy the productivity of these 10,700 acres of land, the construction of the reservoir will make it possible to furnish water for the irrigation of about 78,000 acres of presently unirrigated lands in Solano County, including 56,500 acres in the presently unorganized district, and for a supplement supply to 5,000 acres of presently irrigated lands, and in addition furnish annually 38,000 acre-feet of water for municipal, military, and industrial uses.
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