The Smallwood Reservoir is the
reservoir
A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation.
Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...
created for the
Churchill Falls Generating Station in the western part of
Labrador
Labrador () is a geographic and cultural region within the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the primarily continental portion of the province and constitutes 71% of the province's area but is home to only 6% of its populatio ...
, Canada. Unlike other reservoirs, water is contained not by a single large
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...
, but by a series of 88
dikes that total in length in the drainage area of the
Churchill River.
It is named in honour of
Joey Smallwood
Joseph Roberts Smallwood (December 24, 1900 – December 17, 1991) was a Newfoundlander and Canadian politician. He was the main force who brought the Dominion of Newfoundland into Canadian Confederation in 1949, becoming the first premier of ...
, the first
premier of Newfoundland.
With an area of , is the largest body of freshwater in the province and the fifth-largest reservoir in the world in terms of surface area.
History
The earliest evaluation of hydro potential of this vast reservoir was in 1942
when
H.G. Acres Company carried out a study for the
Aluminum Company of Canada (Alcan). Due to the remoteness of the site then, it was considered too expensive to build and deemed not viable.
With the development of technologies for
transmission of electricity over long distances the project design to build the power development including the main dam and control structure and the many
dykes began in July 1967 by
Acres Canadian Bechtel of Churchill Falls, a joint venture formed by
Canadian Bechtel and
Acres Engineering, as part of the construction of the
Churchill Falls Generating Station.
Geography
The reservoir is located on the
Labrador Plateau, a saucer shaped plateau that ranged from above sea level. Before construction, it was inundated with many
bogs
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main Wetland#Types, types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagm ...
and small interconnected lakes. The three largest of these lakes were Ossokmanuan,
Lobstick and
Michikamau.
Ossokmanuan became a reservoir for the
Twin Falls power station.
The area was mostly drained by the Churchill River. At the edge of the plateau it dropped before the falls, a further at the falls and a further through the
Bowdoin Canyon. It was named after
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College ( ) is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. It was chartered in 1794.
The main Bowdoin campus is located near Casco Bay and the Androscoggin River. In a ...
in
Maine
Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...
which sponsored an expedition in 1891 to visit the falls.
Construction
The reservoir requires 88 dykes to prevent overflow outside of the reservoir. The highest of these dykes is and the longest is . The two reservoirs require three
control structures to regulate flow. The Gabbro Control Structure which regulated the Ossokmanuan reservoir, the Lobstick Control Structure that regulates the Smallwood reservoir and the Whitefish Control Structure for the
forebay reservoirs. Both forebays are further regulated by
spillway
A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...
s to prevent flooding.
The project took 9 years to complete from 1966 to 1974, with peak construction in 1970 when a total of 6,245 workers were stationed at the main camp and eleven satellite camps.
The project was completed five months ahead of schedule.
See also
*
Churchill Falls
References
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Labrador
Lakes of Newfoundland and Labrador
Reservoirs in Canada
Churchill Falls