Copco Lake is an artificial lake on the
Klamath River
The Klamath River (Karuk: ''Ishkêesh'', Klamath: ''Koke'', Yurok: ''Hehlkeek 'We-Roy'') flows through Oregon and northern California in the United States, emptying into the Pacific Ocean. By average discharge, the Klamath is the second larges ...
in
Siskiyou County, California, near the
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
border in the United States. The lake's waters are impounded by the Copco Number 1 Dam (National ID CA00323), which was completed in 1922.
[ COPCO was an acronym referring to the California Oregon Power Company, which merged into ]Pacific Power and Light
PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States.
PacifiCorp has two business units:
# Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington.
# ...
in 1961, and is now known as Pacificorp.
Copco Number 1 and Number 2 Dams are two of the four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project
The Klamath River Hydroelectric Project is a series of hydroelectric dams and other facilities on the mainstem of the Klamath River, in a watershed on both sides of the California/Oregon border.
The infrastructure was constructed between 1903 a ...
which have been proposed for removal. As of February 2016, the states of Oregon and California, the dam owners, federal regulators and other parties reached an agreement to remove all four dams by the year 2020, pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in ...
(FERC). The plan was delayed in 2020 due to conditions placed on the project by FERC. As of February 25, 2022, the FERC released their final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the dam's removal. The dam is expected to be removed sometime in 2023 or 2024. The social movement to Un-Dam the Klamath
Un-Dam the Klamath (#UnDamtheKlamath) is a social movement in the United States to remove the dams on the Klamath River primarily because they obstruct salmon, steelhead, and other species from accessing the upper basin which provides hundreds of ...
has been ongoing for 20 years.
Copco Number 1 Dam
Copco Number 1 Dam is a gravity dam long and high, with of freeboard. PacifiCorp
PacifiCorp is an electric power company in the western United States.
PacifiCorp has two business units:
# Pacific Power, a regulated electric utility with service territory throughout Oregon, northern California, and southeastern Washington.
# ...
owns the dam.[
]
Copco Number 2 Dam
Copco Number 2 Dam is a gated diversion dam
A diversion dam is a dam that diverts all or a portion of the flow of a river from its natural course. Diversion dams do not generally impound water in a reservoir; instead, the water is diverted into an artificial water course or canal, which ...
located just below Dam No. 1. The dam diverts most of the flow of the river, about , through a flume and tunnels to a 27 megawatt powerhouse downstream, on the upstream end of Iron Gate Reservoir
Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundance ...
. The diversion bypasses a canyon section of the Klamath River that historically consisted of some steep rapids. The dam is required to maintain a minimum release of to prevent this stretch from being entirely dewatered. Because it has no effective storage capacity, Dam No. 2 depends entirely on the regulated flows released from Copco Lake.
Recreation
The lake is used for kayaking, fishing, swimming, windsurfing, power boating, and sailing, and the surrounding area has facilities for picnicking and hiking.
See also
* List of dams and reservoirs in California
Following is a list of dams and reservoirs in California in a sortable table. There are over 1,400 named dams and 1,300 named reservoirs in the state of California.
Dams in service
:''Please add to this list from the below sources.''
Former ...
* List of lakes in California
References
External links
page at county website
bad link
COPCO LAKE Five Year Photos KLAMATH RIVER KLAMATH DAMS
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Reservoirs in Siskiyou County, California
Reservoirs in California
Reservoirs in Northern California