General Problems of Design and Operation

Beginning about 1928, the increasing recognition by the engineering profession of the advantages of multiple-purpose dam and reservoir projects for river control—particularly for irrigation, flood control, navigation, and power uses—resulted in the construction of many such structures in the United States and the proposed construction of many more in the near future. It is scarcely necessary to substantiate this statement in the light of projects completed during the period such as: (1) The Sacandaga Reservoir in the Hudson River Basin, a pioneer multiple-purpose project; (2) the development on the Colorado River consisting of Hoover, Parker, Imperial, and Davis dams built or building; (3) Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams on the Columbia River in Washington and Oregon; (4) the Central Valley Project in California; (5) the dams in the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers above Pittsburgh, Pa.; and (6) the Tennessee River system of multiple-purpose dams and reservoirs, shown in Fig. 1.