Another view of the New RIver in southwest Virginia. This isn't an artsy photograph but one that shows the an interesting aspect of it's moods. Notice the near shore is brown with sediment while the far shore is clear blue. A hundred yards (meters) upstream the Little river enters the New river. Near the confluence there is a small hydroelectric dam, built by the city of Radford in 1934. It is 58 ft (18 m) high 293 ft (89 m) long with a normal storage pond of 920 acre-ft (113 hectare-meters) draining an area of 108 sq miles (280 sq km) It runs thru some pretty rural farm land that has been recently tilled.
Just above the confluence on the New River is the Clator Dam of Appalachian Power Company . It was built in 1939, and is 145 ft (44 m) high, 1142 ft (350 m) long, has a normal pool of 232,000 Acre-ft (28,500 hectare-m), and drains 2382 sq mi (6200 sq-km). The longer residence time of the water behind the Clator Dam allows the sediment to precipitate before continuing downstream. The water from these two watersheds doesn't really mix for another 8-10 miles (16 km), so the dividing line is quite obvious as you pass over the river on the Interstate 81 bridge, visible here in the background. We've just had 3 days of rain and the Little River flow is 2000 cubic ft per second (56 cubic m per second )and the New is 10,000 cubic ft per second (283 cubic m per second). If you Google for New River Dam (Virginia) and Clator Dam you can find some old photographs of the dam construction.
Nobody has marked this note useful
- Copyright: Robert Daniels (rrdaniels) (112)
- Genre: Places
- Medium: Color
- Date Taken: 2012-03-26
- Categories: Nature
- Camera: Nikon D-80, AF Nikkor 18-135mm
- Exposure: f/9.0, 1/250 seconds
- Details: Tripod: Yes
- More Photo Info: view
- Photo Version: Original Version
- Date Submitted: 2012-03-26 15:25