Hoover Dam & Las Vegas

About a mile before arriving at Hoover Dam we had to stop for a vehicle inspection to check for explosives. It would likely take an eighteen wheeler of high power explosives to put a dent in a dam the size and depth of the dam. I suppose that they want to prevent any "propaganda" successes, and exercise "due diligence". There is a large bridge being built downstream from the dam to bypass traffic around Hoover Dam. That will allow security to check only those wanting to visit the dam itself. The sheriff deputy who was to inspect our rig happened to have served in the Army, and he saw my Air National Guard plate and we got to talking politics and tea parties. He told of being at the demonstration at Harry Reid's home town that brought out 10,000 folks against Reid, and the counter demonstration that Harry arranged which only produced several hundred. The deputy looked inside my trailer and asked if that was my shotgun and I told him yes but it is not loaded. He asked me if I had a hand gun and I told him yes in the truck. He told me to take the clip out and all would be fine and sent me on without further inspection. Citizens with gun permits do have an advantage with law enforcement because we make their job a bit easier, or at least they think so.
We toured the power generating operation of the dam and it is quite impressive. The dam is seven hundred twenty six feet high, one thousand two hundred forty four feet across. Six hundred sixty feet thick at the base, and forty five feet thick at the top. Four point four million cubic yards of concrete in the structure. And forty five million pounds of reinforcing steel make this an impressive structure. It has 17 turbines inside the dam. It sends power to many states and provides water for the Imperial Valley which allows it to exist where there was once only desert. For anyone wanting more details of the era when it was built, Google: Hoover Dam. Wikipedia and Watersheds TV both have much information. The dam has served well over it's 75 years with seasons of much water, and of little water. Right now Lake Mead is at a level 100 feet below desired normal and just a bit above the record low. There are several reasons for this. In recent years there was less snowfall in the Colorado River Basin, which caused a drought. Also water usage has increased, and there is the normal draining of the rocky terrain where the lake is located. These team together to cause the drain on Lake Mead. There is some irony to all this... First, when the dam was built, several states fought over water and power share. This held up the dam for some time, until Hoover told them to get together and work out a "treaty" and the dam would be started with the agreement still in the works. Arizona worked hard to get a large share of the water to allow Phoenix and other areas to grow. At the time Phoenix was using mostly well water. When the dam was finished and Arizona got its share worked out, the water was piped to Phoenix and due to the mineral content of the water, it was hard on the infrastructure and the residents did not like the taste of the water, so today most of the water that Arizona gets is "dumped" in the desert. Why? Because the agreement reads that if any state needed less water, it would be diverted to other locations. Arizona knows that the time will come when they will have to have the water, so they waste it now to keep their "share". I have not researched this in depth, but my cousin has lived here for years and is a civil engineer who specializes in water and drainage, so I am taking his word for it. Also the Imperial Valley uses vast amounts of the water in ever growing locations, and lastly, what is left in the Colorado River flows into Mexico where it eventually runs dry. It no longer drains into any body of water, just runs dry. Mexico lays claim to a certain amount of water, which it is no longer getting, so that too is a matter of contention. The waste of water will be looked at again when we get to Las Vegas. There are photos of the Hoover Dam and the new bridge in the photos at the address in the previous edition.