Oahe Dam
The Oahe Dam is one of six that has been built along the Missouri River. These dams work together to ensure that the water levels on the river remain high enough to be navigable. The dam also provides electricity, drinking water and irrigation to a large part of the central United States.
The Oahe Dam was built just after the World War Two along the Missouri River in South Dakota. The original purpose of the dam was to allow the army corps of engineers to control the water levels in the river for navigation purposes. However once the decision to build the dam was made it was put to several other uses as well. There was little value in building a dam and not including a hydroelectric plant ofter all. Now the dam provides most of the electricity to North and South Dakota as well as Minnesota and Nebraska.
The Oahe Dam was also built to provide irrigation for the area. It is located right in the middle of much of the nations farmland so this is an important use. A lot of the areas near the dam do not have large supplies of drinking water so the dam also provides additional resources of this as well. Finally the Oahe Dam helps to control flooding on the Missouri river, another important function given how often the river floods.
The Oahe Dam is a gravity dam that is built out of concrete. Construction of the dam took fourteen years and was not completed until 1962. The dam created Lake Oahe which is the fourth largest reservoir in the United States. While the reservoir provides much needed water it also created a need for thousands of natives living in the area to be relocated.
These days no dam gets built without upsetting certain environmental groups and the Oahe Dam is no exception. The concerns are mainly for the affect it has had on wildlife, particularly the fish in the river. There is also concern about the built up of sediment in Lake Oahe and how that will affect both wildlife and the water that is being used for irrigation. There are also a lot of people who are starting to believe that the attempt to control flooding along the Missouri river is just making the problem worse and it would be better if the river were allowed to flow at its natural level.
This debate became a major issue in 2011 when the river flooded during the spring. As one of the six dams along the river the Oahe Dam found it necessary to release large amounts of water. This release then flowed downstream forcing the next dam to do the same thing. Many people became concerned that if one of the dams were to fail it would be a disaster.