Arizona Dam to Release 650 Million Gallons of Water as Wet Winter Raised Levels to "Flood Control Space"

650 million gallons of water are expected to be released from an Arizona dam after a wet winter raised water levels to "Flood Control Space."

Millions of gallons of water were released Wednesday as the spill gates at Roosevelt Dam opened. The Salt River Project tests its two spillways as well as four spill gates every year to make sure they are prepared in the event of flooding.

650 Million Gallons of Water and More

However, this year's test is different since more water is being released as a result of the wet winter.

Numerous people came to watch the test, including Dennis Shelley from Snowflake. According to Shelley, the water release is quite a spectacle.

The test was postponed from August to May this year because Roosevelt Lake's water levels are already in "Flood Control Space," which means more water has to be released.

Earlier this year, the lake experienced its highest level ever as well as its record level for a spillway test.

According to Ivan Insua, director of hydro generation for SRP, they are discharging water at a flow rate of 12,000 cubic feet per second, which is sufficient to give showers to about a million Valley people each minute.

Even with the amount of water being discharged, according to Insua, the lake level won't change much.

He predicted that they would release a volume of water that was closer to 50 million gallons. With all that water, Insua continues, it is also quite surprising that they want to just decrease the lake by less than half an inch.

228 billion gallons of water have been released into the Salt River since March to make sure reservoirs can hold all of the water flow collected from this past winter's snowpack.

On Wednesday, water will burst through the gates, run to Apache Lake, and be stored there for later use, ABC 15 Arizona.

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Roosevelt Dam in Arizona

About 76 miles northeast of Phoenix or 30 miles northwest of Globe, Arizona, is Theodore Roosevelt Dam, the Bureau of Reclamation's first significant building on the Salt River Project. 

According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the spillways were upgraded in 1936 by lowering the crests by 6 feet to enhance their capacities and installing individual gate hoists, working motors, as well as two 5-kilovolt-ampere gasoline-engine fueled generators.

A $430 million upgrade project completed in 1996 increased the dam's height to 357 feet and increased the lake's water storage capacity by 20%, providing adequate water for 1 million people. According to the SRP, the dam today has a 36-megawatt electric hydrogeneration capacity (enough to power 30,000 houses) and offers significant flood control.

In addition to increasing the height of the dam, the modification also involved two new spillways, new outlet works, and changes to the power plant, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Additionally, Roosevelt Lake's already-existing recreational amenities were upgraded, and new ones were built.

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