Morrow Point Dam

Morrow Point Dam
Morrow Point Dam
Location of Morrow Point Dam in Colorado
Location	Cimarron, Gunnison County, Colorado, USA
Coordinates	38°27′07.25″N 107°32′17″W / 38.4520139°N 107.53806°W / 38.4520139; -107.53806
Construction began	1963
Opening date	1968
Operator(s)	U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Concrete thin arch
Impounds	Gunnison River
Height	468 feet (143 m)
Length	724 feet (221 m)
Width (crest)	12 feet (3.7 m)
Width (base)	52 feet (16 m)
Dam volume	365,180 cu yd (279,200 m3)
Spillway type	Four-orifice free-fall in center of dam face, fixed-wheel gates
Spillway capacity	41,000 cu ft/s (1,200 m3/s)
Reservoir
Creates	Morrow Point Reservoir
Total capacity	117,190 acre-feet (0.14455 km3)
Catchment area	3,675 sq mi (9,520 km2)
Surface area	817 acres (331 ha)
Power Station
Hydraulic head	413 ft (126 m)
Turbines	2 x 86.667 MW turbines
Installed capacity	173.3 MW
Annual generation	269,193,371 KWh

Morrow Point Dam is a 468-foot-tall (143 m) concrete double-arch dam on the Gunnison River located in Colorado, the first dam of its type built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Located in the upper Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it creates Morrow Point Reservoir, and is within the National Park Service-operated Curecanti National Recreation Area. The dam is between the Blue Mesa Dam (upstream) and the Crystal Dam (downstream). Morrow Point Dam and reservoir are part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Wayne N. Aspinall Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project, which retains the waters of the Colorado River and its tributaries for agricultural and municipal use in the American Southwest.^[1][2] The dam's primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation.^[3]