Seven Mile Dam - Pend d'Oreille River, BC, Canada
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 49° 01.673 W 117° 30.587
11U E 462734 N 5430680
We passed by the Waneta Dam today and saw that they were spilling quite a bit of water yet. So we decided to drive up the Pend d'Oreille and check out this, the Seven Mile Dam.
Waymark Code: WMM1B1
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 07/01/2014
Views: 1
Here they had three of the five sluice gates partially open, creating quite a nice waterfall. It would be about the same height as the waterfall at the Waneta Dam 9 km. downriver, 150 feet or so. It's quite impressive, especially when it hits bottom and rebounds back up then down in an arch about 60 feet in height.
At the viewpoint for the dam is an informational kiosk including the following sign outlining its history and pointing out that "The Seven Mile Project has the highest power yield per acre flooded of any operational hydroelectric project in British Columbia", which makes it the most efficient in terms of land usage.
Construction on the concrete gravity dam began in 1975 and the hydroelectric plant began operation in 1979. The dam encloses 3 - 202.5 MW turbines and 1 - 210 MW Pelton Wheel, giving it a total generating capacity of 817.5 MW (Mega Watts). The dam is 65 metres (213 ft) in height and 350 metres (1,150 ft) in width at the base. Operations are coordinated with Waneta Dam, which is just 9 km downstream from the Seven Mile Dam, just above the confluence of the Pend d'Oreille and Columbia Rivers.
Coordinates are for the viewpoint and parking area just west of the dam.