Englebright Dam is a high variable radius concrete

arch dam An arch dam is a concrete dam that is curved upstream in plan. The arch dam is designed so that the force of the water against it, known as hydrostatic pressure, presses against the arch, causing the arch to straighten slightly and strengthen ...

on the

Yuba River The Yuba River is a tributary of the Feather River in the Sierra Nevada and eastern Sacramento Valley, in the U.S. state of California. The main stem of the river is about long, and its headwaters are split into three major forks. The Yuba River ...

in the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

Basin, located in Yuba and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

counties of California, United States. It was put into service in 1941 by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. The dam was constructed in 1941 for the primary purpose of trapping sediment derived from anticipated hydraulic mining operations in the Yuba River watershed. Hydraulic mining in the Sierra Nevada was halted in 1884 but resumed on a limited basis until the 1930s during the great depression under the

California Debris Commission The California Debris Commission was a federal commission created in 1893 by an act of Congress to regulate California streams that had been devastated by the sediment washed into them from gold mining operations upstream in the Sierra Nevada. It wa ...

. Although no hydraulic mining in the upper Yuba River watershed resumed after the construction of the dam, the historical mine sites continued to contribute sediment to the river. Today, Englebright Lake is used primarily for recreation and hydropower. Englebright Lake is nestled in the scenic Sierra foothills east of Marysville. Constructed for the storage of hydraulic gold mining debris, Englebright Dam is a concrete arch structure. It spans 1,142 feet (348 m) across and is 260 feet (79 m) high. The dam is in the steep Yuba River gorge known as the Narrows, holding back a lake with a surface area of . The lake is unique in that it offers boat-in camping only. The Englebright Reservoir provides water-based recreational benefits to the region and provides of stored water-right capacity, which is released each year through dam operations to benefit fish downstream. Water is also diverted for regional domestic and agricultural uses. Hydroelectric generation from water stored behind Englebright produces about 294 million

kilowatt hour A kilowatt-hour (unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a unit of energy: one kilowatt of power for one hour. In terms of SI derived units with special names, it equals 3.6 megajoules (MJ). Kilowatt-hours are a common bil ...

s of energy each year, or enough for the annual energy needs for 50,000 homes. A new flow bypass system was installed in 2006 by the Yuba County Water Agency and Mitchell Engineering so that river flow requirements can be met during shut-downs of the Narrows II Powerhouse at the base of the dam. Narrows 1 Powerhouse is further downstream and smaller than Narrows 2 Powerhouse. File:USACE Englebright Dam and Lake.jpg, Aerial view of Englebright Dam and Lake on the Yuba River File:EnglebrightDam2006.jpg, Englebright Dam during spring floods. Water is spilling over the dam's crest. Narrows II Powerhouse is visible at the base of the dam. File:Yuba river watershed.png, Map of the Yuba River watershed

References

External links

USGS dam and lake infoU.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Englegbright LakeYuba County Water Agency
{{Coord, 39, 14, 24.08, N, 121, 16, 9.83, W, type:city, display=title Englebright Dams in the Feather River basin Yuba River Arch dams Buildings and structures in Nevada County, California Buildings and structures in Yuba County, California United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams completed in 1941

See also

References

External links