Corps Builds World's Largest Fuse Gates in California

摘要

With the addition of immense (21 ft [6.4 m] tall) fuse gates, Terminus Dam, at northern California's Lake Kaweah, should now be able to withstand a 70-year flood, the possible maximum flood (PMF) for the basin as determined by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps recently completed construction of six fuse gates at the dam, which is located at the base of the Sierra Nevada. The $50-million multipurpose structure is designed to prevent flooding in Visalia, California―which has a population of about 92,000―during relatively common wet-weather events and to provide additional irrigation capacity for the local agricultural district. Lake Kaweah's former total capacity was 142,000 acre-ft (175.2 million m~3), but it will now be 184,000 acre-ft (226.9 million m~3).