Jocassee Dam (often called Lake Jocassee Dam) is an

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface ...

on the

Keowee River The Keowee River is created by the confluence of the Toxaway River and the Whitewater River in northern Oconee County, South Carolina. The confluence is today submerged beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee, a reservoir created by Lake Jocasse ...

, straddling the border of Pickens and Oconee counties in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The dam forms

Lake Jocassee Lake Jocassee (, ) is a , deep reservoir in northwest South Carolina. It was created in 1973 by the state in partnership with Duke Power. The lake is known for the clean and cold Appalachian mountain rivers that flow into it, keeping its water ...

, which is fed by the Toxaway, Thompson, Horsepasture and

Whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...

Rivers, and serves primarily for hydroelectric power generation and flood control. The dam and reservoir are part of the Keowee-Toxaway Hydroelectric Project, owned and operated by

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company ranked as the 141st largest company in the United States in 2024 – its highest-ever placement on the ...

. Completed in 1973, the dam is a zoned earth and rock fill structure, standing high with a crest length of . At full pool, the reservoir has a storage capacity of , encompassing of shoreline and . Floodwater is released through a spillway controlled by two gates, with a capacity of . The dam supports a hydroelectric station, generating power from four turbines. Two of the turbines were installed in 1973, while the third and fourth units came online in 1975. The power station functions as a

pumped-storage Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. A PSH system stores energy in the form of gravitational potent ...

operation designed to provide peaking power, and generates an average of per year. The dam is shown under construction in the 1972 thriller film ''

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American thriller film directed and produced by John Boorman from a screenplay by James Dickey, who adapted it from his own Deliverance (novel), 1970 novel. It follows four businessmen from Atlanta who venture into th ...

''.

References

{{reflist, 33em Dams completed in 1973 Energy infrastructure completed in 1973 Energy infrastructure completed in 1975 Dams in South Carolina Embankment dams Buildings and structures in Oconee County, South Carolina Buildings and structures in Pickens County, South Carolina Pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations in the United States Hydroelectric power plants in South Carolina

See also

References