Corra Linn Dam - Bonnington Falls, BC
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 49° 28.124 W 117° 28.252
11U E 465884 N 5479671
Corra Linn dam, the upper dam in a series of five along a 4.5 km. stretch of the Kootenay River, is a concrete gravity dam about 15 km downstream from the city of Nelson.
Waymark Code: WMH9AR
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 06/10/2013
Views: 3
The Corra Linn, named after a waterfall on Scotland's River Clyde, was built in 1932 to control upstream storage in Kootenay Lake and to produce hydroelectricity. After several floods downstream, in the US, dams were constructed to control the flow of water into Kootenay Lake. This substantially ameliorated the changes in water level and flows through Kootenay Lake.
With a more constant flow of water at hand, a canal was created, taking water from the Kootenay at Corra Linn, effectively splitting the flow of the Kootenay in two. As a result, the Corra Linn is no longer relied upon as much for water storage control as in the past.
The 16 Metre high dam still raises the level of Kootenay Lake by an average of two metres and the powerhouse produces 49 MW of power from 6 turbines within.