Description
Crystal Dam, like the higher Morrow Point Dam farther upstream, is a thin-shell arch dam, primarily planned to generate hydroelectric power. Unlike its upstream companions, excess water spills over the top of the dam through a notched-out ungated spillway that can create a 227 feet (69 m) waterfall in times of overflow.Under normal conditions the river flows though an 11.5 feet (3.5 m) penstock to the 28 MW turbine. The dam is deep within the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in pre-Cambrian metamorphic rock.
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