The Albeni Falls Dam has helped create how our water is used since the 50s.
Whether you have thought about it or not, our local dams are an important part of how our local water ways act. Thought you knew everything about our local Albeni Falls Dam? Well did you know these 5 things?
- Albeni Falls Dam was Expensive. The dam was created for a total of $34 million.
- There is a lot of concrete used in the dam. With a total of 136,000 cubic yards (not feet), the creation of the dam was definitely not a weekend project. It also weighs somewhere around 61 million pounds. That would be equivalent to 18,938 average sized cars.
- Power for 15,000 homes. On average it creates 200 million kilowatts of energy every year. Saving the US from importing around 4.9 million barrels of oil each year.
- 5 years of work. The dam started being built in January of 1951 and was finished in December of 1955. It has been running ever since.
- Built in two parts. The dam was built in two parts. Firstly the spillway either releases, or stores water. While secondly, the powerhouse generates the electricity.
This information was gathered on the US Corps of Engineers website
If you are interested in other facts about other things in North Idaho, you might be interested the article 6 Things You Didn’t Know About Bonner County