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Provo River

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The Provo River ( Ute : Timpanoquint , “Rock River) is located in Utah County and Wasatch County , Utah , in the United States. It rises in the Uinta Mountains at Wall Lake and flows about 71 miles (114 km) southwest to Utah Lake at the city of Provo, Utah .

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66-714: The two main branches of Provo River are the North Fork Provo River and the South Fork Provo River. The river is impounded by Jordanelle Reservoir at the north end of the Heber Valley. Deer Creek Dam further impounds the Provo River with Deer Creek Reservoir , built-in 1941. The two branches of Provo are split into upper, middle, and lower sections. The upper Provo originates in the high Uintas and flows into Jordanelle Reservoir. Below

132-537: A block for migrating fish, trapping them in one area, producing food and a habitat for various water-birds. They can also flood various ecosystems on land and may cause extinctions. Creating reservoirs can alter the natural biogeochemical cycle of mercury . After a reservoir's initial formation, there is a large increase in the production of toxic methylmercury (MeHg) via microbial methylation in flooded soils and peat. MeHg levels have also been found to increase in zooplankton and in fish. Dams can severely reduce

198-815: A chain up the valley. Coastal reservoirs are fresh water storage reservoirs located on the sea coast near a river mouth to store the flood water of a river. As the land-based reservoir construction is fraught with substantial land submergence, coastal reservoirs are preferred economically and technically since they do not use scarce land area. Many coastal reservoirs were constructed in Asia and Europe. Saemanguem in South Korea, Marina Barrage in Singapore, Qingcaosha in China, and Plover Cove in Hong Kong are

264-658: A conventional oil-fired thermal generation plant. For instance, In 1990, the impoundment behind the Balbina Dam in Brazil (inaugurated in 1987) had over 20 times the impact on global warming than would generating the same power from fossil fuels, due to the large area flooded per unit of electricity generated. Another study published in the Global Biogeochemical Cycles also found that newly flooded reservoirs released more carbon dioxide and methane than

330-533: A drop of water seep into the ocean without benefiting mankind." He created the reservoir named Parakrama Samudra ("sea of King Parakrama"). Vast artificial reservoirs were also built by various ancient kingdoms in Bengal, Assam, and Cambodia. Many dammed river reservoirs and most bank-side reservoirs are used to provide the raw water feed to a water treatment plant which delivers drinking water through water mains. The reservoir does not merely hold water until it

396-525: A few such coastal reservoirs. Where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or size, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water. Such reservoirs are usually formed partly by excavation and partly by building a complete encircling bund or embankment , which may exceed 6 km (4 miles) in circumference. Both the floor of the reservoir and the bund must have an impermeable lining or core: initially these were often made of puddled clay , but this has generally been superseded by

462-455: A high-level reservoir is filled with water using high-performance electric pumps at times when electricity demand is low, and then uses this stored water to generate electricity by releasing the stored water into a low-level reservoir when electricity demand is high. Such systems are called pump-storage schemes. Reservoirs can be used in a number of ways to control how water flows through downstream waterways: Reservoirs can be used to balance

528-570: A loss in both quantity and quality of water necessary for maintaining ecological balance and pose a risk of increasing severity and duration of droughts due to climate change. In summary, they consider it a misadaptation to climate change. Proponents of reservoirs or substitution reserves, on the other hand, see them as a solution for sustainable agriculture while waiting for a truly durable agricultural model. Without such reserves, they fear that unsustainable imported irrigation will be inevitable. They believe that these reservoirs should be accompanied by

594-419: A narrow valley or canyon may cover relatively little vegetation, while one situated on a plain may flood a great deal of vegetation. The site may be cleared of vegetation first or simply flooded. Tropical flooding can produce far more greenhouse gases than in temperate regions. The following table indicates reservoir emissions in milligrams per square meter per day for different bodies of water. Depending upon

660-472: A protected 800 to 2,200-foot-wide corridor along the entire reach of the restored middle Provo River for angler access and wildlife habitat. Existing levees were set back to create a near natural flood plain and allowed the river to change course naturally. Planting and fostering streamside vegetation provided necessary environment for healthy fisheries. The Provo River Delta Project began in June 2020 to help with

726-611: A reservoir is called the "conservation pool". In the United Kingdom, "top water level" describes the reservoir full state, while "fully drawn down" describes the minimum retained volume. There is a wide variety of software for modelling reservoirs, from the specialist Dam Safety Program Management Tools (DSPMT) to the relatively simple WAFLEX , to integrated models like the Water Evaluation And Planning system (WEAP) that place reservoir operations in

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792-875: A reworking of irrigation systems and the creation of the Provo River Project, later called the Provo River Water Users Association. Through the Project, river management features were added, including the Deer Creek Dam and Reservoir —with a reservoir capacity of 152,864 acre-feet—and Duchesne Diversion tunnel allowing water from the Duchesne River to be diverted into the Provo River at certain times. The Association today maintains and operates these control and irrigation systems and monitors water flows. According to

858-740: A river valley, with the potential to wash away towns and villages and cause considerable loss of life, such as the devastation following the failure of containment at Llyn Eigiau which killed 17 people. (see also List of dam failures ) A notable case of reservoirs being used as an instrument of war involved the British Royal Air Force Dambusters raid on Germany in World War II (codenamed " Operation Chastise " ), in which three German reservoir dams were selected to be breached in order to damage German infrastructure and manufacturing and power capabilities deriving from

924-582: A territorial project that unites all water stakeholders with the goal of preserving and enhancing natural environments. Two main types of reservoirs can be distinguished based on their mode of supply. Circa 3000 BC, the craters of extinct volcanoes in Arabia were used as reservoirs by farmers for their irrigation water. Dry climate and water scarcity in India led to early development of stepwells and other water resource management techniques, including

990-439: A viewing tower for public use. By helping the citizens of Utah Valley enjoy the river, they will be led to have a greater appreciation for this valuable resource. The more people have positive experiences with the Provo River, the more likely they will be to invest resources in conservation efforts. The urban expansion in the counties surrounding the Provo River has seriously affected it. A study conducted between 1999-2002 examined

1056-594: Is a reservoir in Wasatch County, Utah , United States, just north of Heber City . Jordanelle Reservoir is fed and drained primarily by the Provo River , and is impounded by the Jordanelle Dam , an earthen dam . The construction of the dam resulted in the reroutings of both U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 189 (which now run concurrently over the summit of nearby mountains) and the submergence of

1122-476: Is a natural lake whose level was raised by a low dam and into which the River Dee flows or discharges depending upon flow conditions, as part of the River Dee regulation system . This mode of operation is a form of hydraulic capacitance in the river system. Many reservoirs often allow some recreational uses, such as fishing and boating . Special rules may apply for the safety of the public and to protect

1188-553: Is a range of hydrologic soil groups. The portion of mixed alluvial land soils underneath the water has a D rating which is typical of soils with very slow infiltration rates and high runoff potential. The cobbly alluvial land has a rating in this area of B, which has a moderate infiltration rate when wet. The available water capacity of the soils within a 16,000-foot latitudinal range of the river mouth varies from 0.06 to 0.23 centimeters per centimeter. The Provo River Restoration Project (PRRP) began in 1999 and ended in 2008, and focused on

1254-484: Is a water reservoir for agricultural use. They are filled using pumped groundwater , pumped river water or water runoff and are typically used during the local dry season. This type of infrastructure has sparked an opposition movement in France, with numerous disputes and, for some projects, protests, especially in the former Poitou-Charentes region where violent demonstrations took place in 2022 and 2023. In Spain, there

1320-437: Is also used technically to refer to certain forms of liquid storage, such the "coolant reservoir" that captures overflow of coolant in an automobile's cooling system. Dammed reservoirs are artificial lakes created and controlled by a dam constructed across a valley and rely on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. These reservoirs can either be on-stream reservoirs , which are located on

1386-399: Is an enlarged lake behind a dam , usually built to store fresh water , often doubling for hydroelectric power generation . Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrupting a watercourse to form an embayment within it, excavating, or building any number of retaining walls or levees to enclose any area to store water. The term

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1452-501: Is greater acceptance because all beneficiary users are involved in the implementation of the system. The specific debate about substitution reservoirs is part of a broader discussion related to reservoirs used for agricultural irrigation, regardless of their type, and a certain model of intensive agriculture. Opponents view these reservoirs as a monopolization of resources benefiting only a few, representing an outdated model of productive agriculture. They argue that these reservoirs lead to

1518-466: Is needed: it can also be the first part of the water treatment process. The time the water is held before it is released is known as the retention time . This is a design feature that allows particles and silts to settle out, as well as time for natural biological treatment using algae , bacteria and zooplankton that naturally live in the water. However natural limnological processes in temperate climate lakes produce temperature stratification in

1584-536: Is now used by the Aquarius Golf Club. Service reservoirs perform several functions, including ensuring sufficient head of water in the water distribution system and providing water capacity to even-out peak demand from consumers, enabling the treatment plant to run at optimum efficiency. Large service reservoirs can also be managed to reduce the cost of pumping by refilling the reservoir at times of day when energy costs are low. An irrigation reservoir

1650-419: Is stored in the reservoir. Any excess water can be spilled via a specifically designed spillway. Stored water may be piped by gravity for use as drinking water , to generate hydro-electricity or to maintain river flows to support downstream uses. Occasionally reservoirs can be managed to retain water during high rainfall events to prevent or reduce downstream flooding. Some reservoirs support several uses, and

1716-473: Is the portion of the reservoir that can be used for flood control, power production, navigation , and downstream releases. In addition, a reservoir's "flood control capacity" is the amount of water it can regulate during flooding. The "surcharge capacity" is the capacity of the reservoir above the spillway crest that cannot be regulated. In the United States, the water below the normal maximum level of

1782-452: The Ruhr and Eder rivers. The economic and social impact was derived from the enormous volumes of previously stored water that swept down the valleys, wreaking destruction. This raid later became the basis for several films. All reservoirs will have a monetary cost/benefit assessment made before construction to see if the project is worth proceeding with. However, such analysis can often omit

1848-681: The United States Geological Survey (USGS), variant names for Provo River include Tim-pan-o-gos River and Upper Provo River. The Provo river is an excellent place for outdoor enthusiasts. Fishing is a popular activity along all stretches of the river, with brown and rainbow trout commonly found in the river. Running and biking are common on the Provo River Parkway, a 15-mile trail along the river from Utah Lake to Vivian Park in Provo Canyon; and floating

1914-673: The 1800s, most of which are lined with brick. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909. When it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe. This reservoir now forms part of the southern extension of the Thames Water Ring Main . The top of the reservoir has been grassed over and

1980-498: The 19th century. Due to overfishing, the species population declined. Non-native species, including common carp, white bass, walleye, and black bullhead, were introduced to Utah Lake to provide a food source. Between overfishing, competition, and predation of non-native species, the native June Sucker population has been reduced from over a million to under 1,000. As of 1979, the common carp made up 90% of fish by mass in Utah Lake, and

2046-532: The June Sucker was less than 1%. There is a wide variety of soil taxonomic classes present on the banks of the Provo River and beneath its flowing waters. As the river moves underneath Lakeshore Drive, the soil underneath the water transitions from cobbly alluvial land as the main soil to mixed alluvial materials. Where the Provo River passes through Utah Lake State Park to enter Utah Lake, the below-water soils are primarily mixed with alluvial materials. Close to

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2112-731: The Meroitic town of Butana . The Hafirs catch the water during rainy seasons in order to ensure water is available for several months during dry seasons to supply drinking water, irrigate fields and water cattle. The Great Reservoir near the Lion Temple in Musawwarat es-Sufra is a notable hafir in Kush. In Sri Lanka , large reservoirs were created by ancient Sinhalese kings in order to store water for irrigation. The famous Sri Lankan king Parākramabāhu I of Sri Lanka said "Do not let

2178-488: The US. The capacity, volume, or storage of a reservoir is usually divided into distinguishable areas. Dead or inactive storage refers to water in a reservoir that cannot be drained by gravity through a dam's outlet works , spillway, or power plant intake and can only be pumped out. Dead storage allows sediments to settle, which improves water quality and also creates an area for fish during low levels. Active or live storage

2244-535: The area flooded versus power produced, a reservoir built for hydro- electricity generation can either reduce or increase the net production of greenhouse gases when compared to other sources of power. A study for the National Institute for Research in the Amazon found that hydroelectric reservoirs release a large pulse of carbon dioxide from decay of trees left standing in the reservoirs, especially during

2310-531: The area of the Provo River between the Jordanelle Dam and Deer Creek Reservoir in order to restore the middle Provo River’s pattern and ecological function to a more natural condition. The PRRP consisted of restoring the straightened river channel to a meandering channel mimicking historic conditions, reconnecting the river to existing remnants of historic secondary channels, and constructing small side channels to recreate aquatic features. The project provided

2376-428: The base of the dam or some distance away. In a flat river valley a reservoir needs to be deep enough to create a head of water at the turbines; and if there are periods of drought the reservoir needs to hold enough water to average out the river's flow throughout the year(s). Run-of-the-river hydro in a steep valley with constant flow needs no reservoir. Some reservoirs generating hydroelectricity use pumped recharge:

2442-556: The building of a reservoir at Girnar in 3000 BC. Artificial lakes dating to the 5th century BC have been found in ancient Greece. The artificial Bhojsagar lake in present-day Madhya Pradesh state of India, constructed in the 11th century, covered 650 square kilometres (250 sq mi). The Kingdom of Kush invented the Hafir , a type of reservoir, during the Meroitic period . 800 ancient and modern hafirs have been registered in

2508-470: The changes in the macroinvertebrate communities. The study concluded that there had been a loss in the diversity and abundance of the macroinvertebrate communities. It found that changes increased as time and urbanization increased. There are also concerns about the effect of the Jordanelle Dam on the hydrology of the river. The initial purpose of the dam was to regulate flow into Deer Creek Reservoir as well as provide water storage during drought. However, with

2574-442: The context of system-wide demands and supplies. In many countries large reservoirs are closely regulated to try to prevent or minimize failures of containment. While much of the effort is directed at the dam and its associated structures as the weakest part of the overall structure, the aim of such controls is to prevent an uncontrolled release of water from the reservoir. Reservoir failures can generate huge increases in flow down

2640-561: The dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength and the lowest cost of construction. In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, historical artifacts moved or rare environments relocated. Examples include the temples of Abu Simbel (which were moved before the construction of the Aswan Dam to create Lake Nasser from the Nile in Egypt ),

2706-551: The dam of Jordanelle to Deer Creek Reservoir is known as the Middle Provo River. The Middle Provo is joined on the right by Snake Creek , which includes the Midway Fish Hatchery. The lower section of the Provo River flows out of Deer Creek Reservoir through Provo Canyon and into Utah Lake. Pre-contact Ute Indians called the river Timpanoquint, meaning "water running over rocks." Early settlers changed

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2772-460: The developed world Naturally occurring lakes receive organic sediments which decay in an anaerobic environment releasing methane and carbon dioxide . The methane released is approximately 8 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. As a human-made reservoir fills, existing plants are submerged and during the years it takes for this matter to decay, will give off considerably more greenhouse gases than lakes do. A reservoir in

2838-507: The downstream river to maintain river quality, support fisheries, to maintain downstream industrial and recreational uses or for a range of other purposes. Such releases are known as compensation water . The units used for measuring reservoir areas and volumes vary from country to country. In most of the world, reservoir areas are expressed in square kilometers; in the United States, acres are commonly used. For volume, either cubic meters or cubic kilometers are widely used, with acre-feet used in

2904-440: The environmental impacts of dams and the reservoirs that they contain. Some impacts, such as the greenhouse gas production associated with concrete manufacture, are relatively easy to estimate. Other impacts on the natural environment and social and cultural effects can be more difficult to assess and to weigh in the balance but identification and quantification of these issues is now commonly required in major construction projects in

2970-499: The first decade after flooding. This elevates the global warming impact of the dams to levels much higher than would occur by generating the same power from fossil fuels . According to the World Commission on Dams report (Dams And Development), when the reservoir is relatively large and no prior clearing of forest in the flooded area was undertaken, greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir could be higher than those of

3036-413: The flow in highly managed systems, taking in water during high flows and releasing it again during low flows. In order for this to work without pumping requires careful control of water levels using spillways . When a major storm approaches, the dam operators calculate the volume of water that the storm will add to the reservoir. If forecast storm water will overfill the reservoir, water is slowly let out of

3102-580: The hydroelectric reservoirs there do emit greenhouse gases, it is on a much smaller scale than thermal power plants of similar capacity. Hydropower typically emits 35 to 70 times less greenhouse gases per TWh of electricity than thermal power plants. A decrease in air pollution occurs when a dam is used in place of thermal power generation, since electricity produced from hydroelectric generation does not give rise to any flue gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion (including sulfur dioxide , nitric oxide and carbon monoxide from coal ). Dams can produce

3168-409: The implementation of the dam, studies show there is a decrease in flow downstream, which affects sediment size by decreasing mobilization of larger gravel-sized particles, which can eventually lead to a depletion of fine sediments in the bed over time. This can negatively affect the habitat and spawning ground environments for certain fish species. Jordanelle Reservoir Jordanelle Reservoir

3234-432: The landscape is relatively flat. Other service reservoirs can be storage pools, water tanks or sometimes entirely underground cisterns , especially in more hilly or mountainous country. Modern reserviors will often use geomembrane liners on their base to limit seepage and/or as floating covers to limit evaporation, particularly in arid climates. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs built in

3300-470: The modern use of rolled clay. The water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may substantially reduce many contaminants and reduce turbidity . The use of bank-side reservoirs also allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time, for instance when the river is unacceptably polluted or when flow conditions are very low due to drought . The London water supply system exhibits one example of

3366-489: The mouth of the river, the banks are primarily composed of McBeth silt loam. Chipman loam and Chipman silt loam are also present towards the mouth of the river but in significantly smaller quantities. There are also isolated pockets of Peteetneet and the presence of the Provo-Sunset complex along the bank within a 16,000-foot latitudinal range of the river mouth. In addition to the variety of soil taxonomic classes, there

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3432-519: The name to Provo, after trapper Etienne Provost , for whom the city of Provo, Utah is also named. In addition to Provost, the Quebec-born fur trapper was known as Proveau, and Provot (and the pronunciation was "Provo"). The old name for the river was instead given to the mountain to the north, which later became known as Mount Timpanogos . In the 1930s, irrigation usage and drought had shrunk Utah Lake from 850,000 acre-feet down to 20,000, prompting

3498-609: The new top water level exceeds the watershed height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales . In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir. Where the topography is poorly suited to forming a single large reservoir, a number of smaller reservoirs may be constructed in a chain, as in the River Taff valley where the Llwyn-on , Cantref and Beacons Reservoirs form

3564-415: The operating rules may be complex. Most modern reservoirs have a specially designed draw-off tower that can discharge water from the reservoir at different levels, both to access water as the water level falls, and to allow water of a specific quality to be discharged into the downstream river as "compensation water": the operators of many upland or in-river reservoirs have obligations to release water into

3630-428: The original streambed of the downstream river and are filled by creeks , rivers or rainwater that runs off the surrounding forested catchments, or off-stream reservoirs , which receive diverted water from a nearby stream or aqueduct or pipeline water from other on-stream reservoirs. Dams are typically located at a narrow part of a downstream of a natural basin. The valley sides act as natural walls, with

3696-481: The pre-flooded landscape, noting that forest lands, wetlands, and preexisting water features all released differing amounts of carbon dioxide and methane both pre- and post-flooding. The Tucuruí Dam in Brazil (completed in 1984) had only 0.4 times the impact on global warming than would generating the same power from fossil fuels. A two-year study of carbon dioxide and methane releases in Canada concluded that while

3762-437: The quality of the water and the ecology of the surrounding area. Many reservoirs now support and encourage less formal and less structured recreation such as natural history , bird watching , landscape painting , walking and hiking , and often provide information boards and interpretation material to encourage responsible use. Water falling as rain upstream of the reservoir, together with any groundwater emerging as springs,

3828-832: The recovery of the June sucker and the restoration of the area's ecosystem. To accomplish this, the water in the Provo River will be diverted through a new series of artificial channels before entering Utah Lake. Other fish species have benefitted from the Provo River Delta Project's inclusion of off-channel habitats such as ponds and old channel cutoffs that provide fish refuge protection from high winter flows and may offer rich invertebrate food sources. Fish species that benefitted include: mottled sculpin, mountain whitefish, longnose dace, speckled dace, mountain sucker, redside shiner, and Utah sucker. This restoration will also enhance public recreation by creating new trails, restrooms, fishing platforms, interpretive features, and

3894-464: The relocation of the village of Capel Celyn during the construction of Llyn Celyn , and the relocation of Borgo San Pietro of Petrella Salto during the construction of Lake Salto . Construction of a dammed reservoir will usually require the river to be diverted during part of the build, often through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are often constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs,

3960-638: The reservoir prior to, and during, the storm. If done with sufficient lead time, the major storm will not fill the reservoir and areas downstream will not experience damaging flows. Accurate weather forecasts are essential so that dam operators can correctly plan drawdowns prior to a high rainfall event. Dam operators blamed a faulty weather forecast on the 2010–2011 Queensland floods . Examples of highly managed reservoirs are Burrendong Dam in Australia and Bala Lake ( Llyn Tegid ) in North Wales . Bala Lake

4026-463: The river in inner tubes is popular during the summer. Many native species of riparian, wetland, highland, and aquatic vegetation live in and on the river. Several key species such as the Warbling Vireo, bald eagle, spotted frog, stonefly, and brown trout inhabit the river ecosystem. Endangered species: The June Sucker, endemic to the Utah Lake watershed, was abundant when first documented in

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4092-928: The site was geologically flawed, citing the catastrophic failure of the Teton Dam in Idaho in 1976. Mining interests in nearby Park City were also concerned, fearing that the reservoir would flood sections of the Ontario silver mine . During the summer months, Jordanelle is a destination for triathletes and runners alike. Because of the State Park's rugged terrain on the Rock Cliff side, sponsors host sprint triathlons in addition to 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) races and ultra marathons . Reservoir A reservoir ( / ˈ r ɛ z ər v w ɑːr / ; from French réservoir [ʁezɛʁvwaʁ] )

4158-457: The towns of Keetley , Hailstone , and Jordanelle . Construction of the dam started on June 27, 1987, and was completed on April 12, 1993. Jordanelle State Park opened on June 29, 1995. Construction of the dam was challenged by several groups. Conservationists wanted to maintain the natural state of the Provo River. Because of this, a large area at the foot of the dam was converted into an artificial wetland . Other groups were concerned that

4224-499: The use of bank-side storage: here water is taken from the River Thames and River Lee into several large Thames-side reservoirs, such as Queen Mary Reservoir that can be seen along the approach to London Heathrow Airport . Service reservoirs store fully treated potable water close to the point of distribution. Many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers , often as elevated structures on concrete pillars where

4290-412: The water, which tends to partition some elements such as manganese and phosphorus into deep, cold anoxic water during the summer months. In the autumn and winter the lake becomes fully mixed again. During drought conditions, it is sometimes necessary to draw down the cold bottom water, and the elevated levels of manganese in particular can cause problems in water treatment plants. In 2005, about 25% of

4356-476: The world's 33,105 large dams (over 15 metres in height) were used for hydroelectricity. The U.S. produces 3% of its electricity from 80,000 dams of all sizes. An initiative is underway to retrofit more dams as a good use of existing infrastructure to provide many smaller communities with a reliable source of energy. A reservoir generating hydroelectricity includes turbines connected to the retained water body by large-diameter pipes. These generating sets may be at

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