Journal: News & Comment

Dam ingenuity

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Right about here (I think), northeast of San Francisco, California, above the famous Napa Valley, lies the Monticello Dam, which has created Lake Berryessa. Instead of the usual sub-surface spillway, it has a massive concrete pipe sticking up out of the surface of the lake behind the dam.

When the water level gets high enough, it starts draining down the pipe, known as the Morning Glory Spillway or, less formally, the "Glory Hole." Then it becomes a disturbing image: a huge, sucking hole in the water.

As Barc, who pointed me to this, wrote, "Seriously, that's one freaky construction. We don't do anything nearly as cool with our dams up here [in Canada]."

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