The Davis
Dam Project was authorized April 26, 1941, and a contract for the construction of the dam
and its associated structures was awarded in June 1942. However, work was halted after the War Production Board
revoked priority ratings needed to obtain the necessary materials for construction. Work resumed in 1946, and the dam and
powerplant were completed in 1953. Davis Dam is an earth and rock-fill embankment with a concrete spillway, gravity structure,
intake structure and powerplant.
The primary purpose
of Davis Dam is to re-regulate Hoover Dam releases to meet downstream needs including the annual delivery of 1.5 million acre-feet
of water to Mexico. This is in accordance with the 1944 water treaty with Mexico.
The site was named in 1941 in honor of Arthur Powell Davis, Director of Reclamation from 1914 to 1932. Davis
was one of a small group of men whose courage, foresight and vision sparked the beginning of Colorado River development.
The Davis Dam Powerplant is linked with a federal power distribution
system operated by the Western Area Power Administration. The total system consists of 2,100 miles of high-voltage transmission
lines serving 43 power substations in Arizona, Nevada, and California which supplies power to a number of utilities and other
entities in this area.
Western's dispatching headquarters in Phoenix, the nerve center of the transmission
system, can interconnect energy from the plants in the Lower Colorado River Basin with power generating facilities
in the Upper Colorado River Basin and the Pacific Northwest. The facility can direct the flow
of more than 4 billion kilowatt-hours of Colorado River hydroelectricenergy annually.
The Dam Height is: 200 feet, Crest length is 1,600 feet, and the Crest
width is 50 feet. There are 5 generating units at the Powerplant.
