A method of estimating maximum temperatures to be expected in ponds and small lakes
No abstract available.
Geology topics
Publications and source records attributed to G. Earl Harbeck.
No abstract available.
Reservoir storage facilities in the United States play an important part in the national economy. Storage facilities have enabled the country to utilize to a much fuller extent one of the most valuable natural resources: water. During recent years the construction of reservoirs has continued at a high rate. This report shows the status of these facilities on January 1, 1954, and describes briefly some of the reasons for growth of reservoir facilities in the United States. Descriptive data are given for reservoirs having a capacity of 5, 000 acre-feet or more and for natural lakes having a usable capacity of 5,000 acre-feet or more. Included are reservoirs and lakes completed as of January 1, 1954, and reservoirs under construction on that date. The total number of such reservoirs and lakes is 1, 300. A descriptive list of reservoirs in the United States was first published by the United States Geological Survey in March 1948. That report, Geological Survey Circular 23, entitled Reservoirs in the United States, included reservoirs completed as of January 1, 1947. Since January 1, 1947, reservoirs representing a total usable capacity of 115,000,000 acre-feet, or an increase of 71 percent, have been constructed or are under construction. Data about these new reservoirs are presented herein, and the data shown for reservoirs constructed before 1947 have been corrected on the basis of the latest available survey to determine reservoir capacity. The total usable capacity of reservoirs and lakes included in this compilation amounts to 278, 120, 000 acre-feet, and the corresponding surface area totals 11, 046, 000 acres.
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Man has engaged in the control of flowing water since history began. Among his early recorded efforts were reservoirs for muncipal water-supplies constructed near ancient Jerusalem to store water which was brought there in masonry conduits. 1 / Irrigation was practiced in Egypt as early as 2000 B. C. There the "basin system" was used from ancient times until the 19th century. The land was divided , into basins of approximately 40,000 acres, separated by earthen dikes. 2 / Flood waters of the Nile generally inundated the basins through canals, many of which were built by the Pharaohs. Even then the economic consequences of a deficient annual flood were recognized. Lake Maeris, which according to Herodotus was an ancient storage reservoir, is said to have had an area of 30,000 acres. In India, the British found at the time of their occupancy of the Presidency of Madras about 50,000 reservoirs for irrigation, many believed to be of ancient construction. 3 / During the period 115-130 A. D. reservoirs were built to improve the water-supply of Athens. Much has been written concerning the elaborate collection and distribution system built to supply Rome, and parts of it remain to this day as monuments to the engineering skill employed by the Romans in solving the problem of large-scale municipal water-supplies.