Hoover Dam

No water actually goes over Hoover Dam.  It goes through the turbines inside and out the bottom.


Hoover Dam

I am going to challenge that even though this was built to generate electricity for multiple states and to keep the homes downstream from getting flooded out when it stormed, it was also built to support tourism.  


Hoover Dam Bypass

The tunnels designed for workers, now allow tour groups to walk down to the turbines.  


Tunnel inside Hoover Dam

The turbines line up in a perfect row.  Across the ceiling is a crane that can lift the enormous turbines out of their encasement when they need to be repaired.  Everything was designed and developed to last for years.  Yes there are breakdowns, but they even planned well for the breakdowns.


Hoover Dam Turbines

Seeing the tour group on the mezzanine compared to the equipment below, it shows the height and width of the equipment below.


Replacement Turbine

Outside, the view resembles that of the Grand Canyon with the difference that there is a full multi-lane roadway that goes down close to the river below.  


View from Hoover Dam Observatory

It took somewhere around six years for the water to build up behind the dam in the creation of Lake Mead.  You can see that there is a color difference.  The top line shows where the water level should be when the Dam is running at 100%. 


Look back at Lake Mead

It is currently running around 80% as the lake is about 150 feet low.  They are in a drought.  If I remember right, the penstock towers are where the water from the lake filters in and around the Dam.  For instance if the lake were at flood stages before it went over the top of the dam, the water would flow into the towers and out the by-pass around the other side.  (I don't think they will need to worry about that for some time again!)


Penstock Towers