Hydropower provided one of the best ways for rapidly expanding the country
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s energy output.
Addition of more powerplant units at dams throughout the West made it possible to expand
energy production, and construction pushed ahead to speed up the availability of power. In
1941, Reclamation produced more than five billion kWh, resulting in a 25 percent increase in
aluminum production. By 1944, Reclamation quadrupled its hydroelectric power output.
From 1940 through 1945, Reclamation powerplants produced 47
billion kWh of electricity,
enough to make:
69,000 airplanes
79,000 machine guns
5,000 ships
5,000 tanks
7,000,000 aircraft bombs, and
31,000,000 shells
During the war, Reclamation was the major producer of power in areas
where needed resources
were located -- the West. The supply of low-cost electricity attracted large defense industries to
the area. Shipyards, steel mills, chemical companies, oil refineries,
and automotive and aircraft
factories . . . all needed vast amounts of electrical power. Atomic energy installations were
located at Hanford, Washington, to make use of hydropower from Grand Coulee.
While power output of Reclamation projects energized the war industry, it was also used to
process food,
light military posts, and meet needs of the civilian population in many areas.
With the end of the war, powerplants were put to use in rapidly developing peacetime industries.
Hydropower has been vital for the West
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s industries which use mineral resources or farm
products as raw materials. Many industries have depended wholly on Federal hydropower. In
fact, periodic low flows on the Columbia River have disrupted manufacturing in that region.
Farming was tremendously important to America during the war and continues to be today.
Hydropower directly benefits rural areas in three ways:
-- It produces revenue which contributes toward repayment of irrigation facilities, easing
the
water users
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financial burden.
-- It makes irrigation of lands at higher elevations possible through pumping facilities.
-- It makes power available for use on the farm for domestic purposes.
Reclamation delivers 10 trillion gallons of water to more than 31 million people each year. This
includes providing one out of five Western farmers (140,000) with irrigation water for 10 million
farmland acres that produce 60% of the nation's vegetables and 25% of its fruits and nuts.
Some of the major hydroelectric powerplants built by Reclamation are located at:
-- Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington (the largest single
electrical generating complex in the United States)
-- Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in Arizona-Nevada
-- Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River in Arizona
-- Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River in California
-- Yellowtail Dam on the
Bighorn River in Montana
Grand Coulee has a capacity of more than 6.8 million kW of power. Hydropower generated at
Grand Coulee furnishes a large share of the power requirements in the Pacific Northwest.
Reclamation is one of the largest operators of Federal power-generating stations. The agency
uses some of the power it produces to run its facilities, such as pumping plants. Excess
Reclamation hydropower is marketed by either the Bonneville Power Administration or the
Western Area Power Administration and is sold
first to preferred customers, such as rural
electric power co-cooperatives, public utility districts, municipalities, and state and Federal
agencies. Any remaining power may be sold to private electric utilities.
Reclamation generates
enough hydropower to meet the needs of millions of people and power revenues exceed $900
million a year. Power revenues are returned to the Federal Treasury to repay the cost of
constructing, operating, and maintaining projects.