to house the allspark!!!!!! lol just kidding, i hope you're a fan of transformers and know what i'm talking about!!! lol

For a multitude of reasons; to control floods, to store water for irrigation use, to provide generation of hydroelectric power (largely for Los Angeles Water and Power - aka LADWP), for recreational purposes (Lake Mead), and to provide for better management of fish and wildlife habitat.

The Hoover Dam By Allison Pirie http://www.greentreks.org/watershedstv/old_cattails/hooverdam.asp Seven hundred twenty six feet high. One thousand two hundred forty four feet across. Six hundred sixty feet thick at the base. Forty five feet thick at the top. Four point four million cubic yards of concrete inside the structures. Forty five million pounds of reinforcing steel. Even just looking at these numbers you know that this is an impressive structure. In fact, the Hoover Dam has been named one of the seven modern engineering wonders of the US, as well as a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). And for good reason. Construction on the Dam began in 1931, with a primary purpose not of power, as one might think, but flood control of the Colorado River, and ended in 1936, with the last concrete being poured in September of 1935. In addition to flood control, the other purposes of the dam include navigation, irrigation, water storage, and of course, power. On the dam is a monument depicting each one of these uses. The actual construction type is what’s called “concrete arch-gravity type”, meaning that its curved shape causes the water to be carried by gravity and the horizontal arch. The dam itself was built across Black Canyon with giant concrete blocks varying in size. Over 16,000 men and women worked on the dam during the five years, working 24 hours a day to complete the project. Being built during the Great Depression, the project created many jobs, and thousands of people moved to the area specifically for the opportunity to work. Sadly, 96 people lost their lived during construction, from such things as accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heat. Contrary to stories you might hear, no one is buried inside of the dam. As expected, power is one of the main purposes of the dam. What may be surprising is where the power goes. Arizona gets almost 19% of the power generated, Nevada gets almost 24% of the power generated, and the rest of the power is distributed among various cities in several states. Southern California alone receives 56% of the power generated, with Los Angeles, California, as one of the largest recipients of the power, receiving almost 16% of the power generated. Surprisingly, Las Vegas, a city that is only 30 miles away and has an obvious need for a lot of electricity, only gets about 4% of its power from the Hoover Dam. Why you might ask? When the Hoover Dam was built, Las Vegas was a small railroad town, without the need for the electricity. Inside of the bottom of the dam is a massive powerplant, which takes up a total of 10 acres of floor space, with 17 main turbines inside of the generator rooms, which along with service stations units, produces about 4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity each year. This powerplant is also viewable from the top of the dam, looking over the side. Along the dam there are four intake centers (two in Arizona, two in Nevada). These centers hold roughly one quarter of the water used in the powerplant. How does all of this get paid for? All of the costs to upkeep and run the dam are paid for with revenue from the power generated and sold. Lake Mead, a reservoir created by the construction of the dam that covers 247 square miles and holds roughly 326,000 gallons of water, or enough water to cover the state of Pennsylvania with a depth of one foot, is the largest manmade reservoir in the United States. Not only does the reservoir provide water to millions of people, but it's also a prime place for recreation, including boating, rafting, and water skiing to name a few. But what Lake Mead is really known for is the water that it provides to the western states. In Las Vegas, for example, 88% of the water used in the city comes from Lake Mead. When the Hoover Dam was built, the states involved that would get water, all signed a contract for 75 years that would determine where the water is allocated. In October 2003 Gail Norton, Secretary of the Interior, and the Governor’s of all of the states involved, all met at the Dam to sign the Quantification Settlement Agreement. What this does, is reassign the amount of water that states are allowed to use. For example, California has been using more than their amount, so in this agreement they agreed to reduce their amount of water that they use. Additionally, when the agreement was signed, it was not anticipated that Nevada, especially the city of Las Vegas, would need the amount of water that they needed. Therefore, one of the changes in the agreement is that Nevada will be able to take additional water if needed, as long as the other states do not use all that their allotments. Of course, being in a desert, you would expect that the area is undergoing drought conditions. Lake Mead is currently 80 feet below its normal level. When looking at the sides of the rock walls, you can see white lines surrounding the water. That level is the high water mark of where the water level reached in 1983. Since that time, the water has receded, leaving salt deposits on the side of the rock that have since been bleached by the sun, turning them into a white “bathtub ring” around the lake. Tne question that a lot of people have about the dam is does water go over the top? The answer to that question is no. On either side of the dam is a spillway, the Arizona Spillway and the Nevada Spillway, named for the states where they are located. The spillways are dry right now, but when the water is high enough, it goes into these spillways. The Hoover Dam is one of the top tourist destinations, even though it is “in the middle of nowhere.” Over four thousand people visit the Dam every day. When you visit you can walk across the dam, see one of the four intake centers, or take a tour of the dam. And you can even go up into the observation tower for a breathtaking view of the Dam. One tip… the water you see in the tunnels during the tour – it’s not a leak. It’s seepage. A leak is a much more serious thing. Knowing all of this, it’s little surprise why the ASCE named it one of the seven modern engineering wonders of the US. What’s surprising is the intense feeling that you feel when walking over it, or even just looking at photographs of it. There are tons of jokes you can make about dams. (What did the fish say when he walked into a wall? Dam.) The Hoover Dam is no joke. Facts and figures courtesy of USBR, ASCE, and the Hoover Dam Magazine. For more information about the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, check out the following websites: The Hoover Dam Official Website American Society of Civil Engineers Hoover Dam Site Lake Mead National Recreation Area   Best regards mate!