Basin countries United States Surface elevation 794 m Mean depth 24 m Width 1.097 km | Primary outflows Klamath River Max. length 3 miles (4.8 km) Area 4.047 km² Length 4.8 km Water volume 94.98 million m³ | |
Primary inflows Catchment area 4,300 square miles (11,000 km) | ||
Trip to copco lake
Copco Lake is an artificial lake on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County, California, near the Oregon border in the United States. The lake's waters are impounded by the Copco Number 1 Dam (National ID CA00323), which was completed in 1922. COPCO was an acronym referring to the California Oregon Power Company, which merged into Pacific Power and Light in 1961, and is now known as Pacificorp.
Contents
- Trip to copco lake
- Map of Copco Lake California USA
- Copco Number 1 Dam
- Copco Number 2 Dam
- Recreation
- References
Map of Copco Lake, California, USA
Copco Number 1 and Number 2 Dams are two of the four dams in the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project which have been proposed for removal. As of February 2016, the states of Oregon and California, the dam owners, federal regulators and other parties reached an agreement to remove all four dams by the year 2020, pending approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Copco Number 1 Dam
Copco Number 1 Dam is a gravity dam 415 feet (126 m) long and 132 feet (40 m) high, with 19.5 feet (5.9 m) of freeboard. PacifiCorp owns the dam.
Copco Number 2 Dam
Copco Number 2 Dam is a gated diversion dam located just below Dam No. 1. The dam diverts most of the flow of the river, about 2,400 to 2,500 cu ft/s (68 to 71 m3/s), through a flume and tunnels to a 27 megawatt powerhouse 1.5 miles (2.4 km) downstream, on the upstream end of Iron Gate Reservoir. The diversion bypasses a canyon section of the Klamath River that historically consisted of some steep rapids. The dam is required to maintain a minimum release of 10 cu ft/s (0.28 m3/s) to prevent this stretch from being entirely dewatered. Because it has no effective storage capacity, Dam No. 2 depends entirely on the regulated flows released from Copco Lake.
Recreation
The lake is used for kayaking, fishing, swimming, windsurfing, power boating, and sailing, and the surrounding area has facilities for picnicking and hiking.