Parker Dam (Saturday, September 19th, 2015)

Through the years we have been to several of the dams and reservoirs along the Colorado River, and are always amazed at the size of all of them. But today we decided to visit the Parker Dam just for something to do, and were amazed at the importance of Lake Havasu and this particular dam.

The Colorado River runs 1450 miles from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Gulf of California and has a series of 15 dams on the main system of the Colorado River, and hundreds more on the tributaries. The Colorado River basin provides irrigation and drinking water sources for more than 35 million people in the desert southwest.

There are 5 major dams on the Colorado, the first of which is the Glen Canyon Dam that created Lake Powell, then the Hoover Dam for Lake Meade, the Davis Dam for Lake Mohave, and then the Parker Dam that created Lake Havasu, which stores 210 billion gallons of water, and has become a recreational highlight for the southwest.   

A view of Parker Dam from Lake Havasu

A view of Parker Dam showing the lake, the river below and the power generators

The claim to fame of the Parker Dam is that it is the deepest dam in the world. It is 328 feet high, 235 feet of which are below the river bed. It was started in 1934 and completed in 1938.

A view of Parker Dam from the river below

A view from the top of the dam, looking down the Colorado River

The hydroelectric generators

When you look at the Parker Dam, it looks quite insignificant, but it is the headway for the Colorado River Aquaduct which supplies water to almost all cities in the Los Angeles, San Bernadino and San Diego areas. It is also the water source for the Central Arizona Aquaduct which provides irrigation and drinking water to several Arizona communities including Phoenix and Tucson. Most of the water that runs beyond the Parker Dam in the Colorado River is captured by the Imperial Dam that provides irrigation water to the Imperial Valley of California, one of the most productive farming valleys in the United States.