Taum Sauk Mountain in the Saint Francois Mountains is the highest natural point in the state of Missouri, at 1,772 feet. A mere five miles away, atop Proffit Mountain, is the world’s largest swimming pool — or so I thought the day I first spotted it while enjoying the sights from my airplane. I had to circle around it a couple of times to try to figure out what it was. I thought it may be a source of water for St. Louis, but St. Louis is over one hundred miles away. That’s a long way to pump water.
Back home, I addressed my curiosity to Mr. Google and had the answer within seconds. It is, I discovered, a massive 1.5 billion gallon reservoir contained behind concrete walls 94 feet high and used as a hydro source for generating electricity. It sits 760 feet above a 450 MW hydroelectric plant, which gives it a greater hydraulic head than that of Hoover Dam. The two are connected by a 7,000-foot tunnel bored through the mountain.
The Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Power Station is an open-loop pure pumped operation: unlike other pumped storage sites, there is no natural primary flow into the upper reservoir available for generation. It is, therefore, a net consumer of electricity; the laws of thermodynamics dictate that more power is used to pump the water up the mountain than is generated when it comes down. However, the plant is still economical to operate because the upper reservoir is refilled at night, when the electrical generation system is running at low-cost baseline capacity. This ability to store huge amounts of energy led its operator to call Taum Sauk “the biggest battery we have.” An unusual feature is the upper reservoir is constructed on a flat surface, requiring a dam around the entire perimeter.
Water from the upper reservoir flows through the plant’s turbines, generating electricity. It then feeds into the lower reservoir, where it is held until pumped back uphill at night. The system went into service in 1962 and worked well until it didn’t. On the evening of December 14, 2005, a portion of the massive wall holding back 1.5 billion gallons of water gave way. All hell broke loose as water rushed down the mountain.
The reservoir was repaired and placed back into service in 2010. The video below is eight minutes long, but you can learn almost everything about the facility in the first two and a half minutes.
The name Taum Sauk comes from the Piankeshaw Indian chief Sauk-Ton-Qua. The name “Sauk” may refer to the Native American word for “outlet.”
Welcome to 3-Minutes A Day University, where you can learn a little about a lot of things every day in three minutes or less. We help you expand your knowledge and understanding of the real world, and 3-MAD University is tuition-free. Our wide-ranging syllabus includes a fascinating insight into topics including Health and Medicine, Science, Sports, Geography, History, Culinary Arts, Finance and the Economy, Music and Entertainment, and dozens more. You will impress yourself, your friends, and your family with how easy it is to learn facts and perspectives about the world around you. One topic you will never find covered is politics. We hope you enjoyed the previous three minutes. If you liked this post, please pass it along to a friend.
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe Here.
© Copyright 2024. 3-Minutes A Day University All Rights Reserved. Unsubscribe
