Parker Dam

Of the 29 dams on the Colorado River, the Big Kahuna is Hoover, but the smaller Parker Dam, 155 miles further south is an architectural beauty and can boast that it is "the deepest dam in the world."  It doesn't look like it from our photographs, but 73% of its concrete walls are below the riverbed.  It was built between 1934 and 1938 and straddles the Colorado between Arizona and California.  The reservoir behind it is Lake Havasu, which stores over 210 billion gallons of water, quenching the thirst of 15 million people on both sides.  Clearly, Parker is dam important!  (Sorry--couldn't resist.)

I wanted to see it because of another important fact.  Lake Havasu is the water source for the California Aqueduct.  The Parker Plant on the California side has four hydroelectric generating units and about 50% of that power is used to pump the water through the canals to the Los Angeles and San Diego areas.  It's a mind boggling feat of engineering.  In 1985, the reservoir also starting conveying water 336 miles away to Phoenix and Tucson.

 As my travel buddy and I drove back to Santa Barbara that day, we drove parallel to the aqueduct most of the way.  Water is something we all take for granted, but after this trip, every time I turn on the tap, I think of that long journey my glass of water makes to get to my house.  It's a modern miracle and a very precious resource.