Why the USA Is Flooding an Entire Valley
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- The Chimney Hollow Reservoir is the largest dam project built in the United States in the last 20 years, designed to tackle water shortages for northern Colorado's growing population. This ambitious $690 million project will flood an entire valley, creating a reservoir capable of holding 90,000 acre-feet of water, enough to provide for 500,000 residents across 12 communities.
This project is a critical step toward securing water for the future, but do you think flooding an entire valley is worth it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share for more MegaBuilds stories.
#infrastructure #construction #engineering #colorado
Conservation of water is always the right call. By conservation I do not mean restriction of water use, but rather storage in lakes and a continuous steady release to the countries needs. The more that is stored, the more can be released. Incidentally the wild life love it also. More fish more water fowl, more trees more rainfall.
Not if you have a farm downstream.
If you are going to use stock footage, at least use footage from colorado.
Saguaro you doin...?
Thanks for your feedback! The vast majority of the footage in this video is from the Chimney Hollow project itself. Occasionally, we include additional clips that match the script or enhance the visuals to keep the storytelling engaging. We appreciate you watching and sharing your thoughts!
@@MegaBuilds5280 the cacti that aren't found in Colorado was a bit of a tell
@@dcbdcbdcb yep, at 0:55, that looks like Phoenix AZ.
Colorado building a large dam. While Calf is removing dams lol
this video does a real shit job of showing where and what the dam will look like. i dont need to see cut shots of trucks driving.... that doesnt help
Hey California this is how you prevent water shortages!
Seriously. The 1500 reservoirs in California aren't nearly enough to support their agricultural industry.
😂 You think this garbage will hold up to an earthquake? Do you know what liquefaction is? What happens when the hydraulic force of the water suddenly shifts from side to side? Did they factor in friction and compression? 🎉 They are only one strong volcano rumble away from an inland tsunami 🌊
California knows about dam failures there have been many here. 😢
Recycle wastewater, build dsal plants($1B each), build more reservoirs($8B total)........We're doing all that. San Diego resident
Jarred this project will be taking the same water from the Colorado river that California would need to fill a new reservoir
Maybe quit wasting it on pistachios and almonds
Good job showing pictures of Phoenix and surrounding area when you're talking about Colorado. Lol.
I live right by the windy gap reservoir, this project explains all the construction that’s been going on there. Thank you for the video.
This is fantastic! Human innovation addressing real world needs.
Amazing !! Water is always needed.
This project is certainly keeping a few hundred engineers and their families well funded for the next few years!
And when the sealed cement cracks, and at some point it will, and the asphalt starts to leach into the water? Am I missing something. Water finds a way……
Great plan, now we need to build a couple more reservoir in Southern Colorado. This would greatly stiffle Droughting in the state.
That’s a great point! Expanding reservoirs in Southern Colorado could definitely help address drought challenges across the state.
I’d like to see how they survive a strong seismic event before building these all over. Water kills in its many forms
How about living somewhere that can sustain you.
Northern Colorado farmers need water too !
Why don’t they build huge reservoirs to catch flood water from floods in the east and direct that water to the west ? Instead of it dumping into the gulf !
0:54 Sonoran cacti in north eastern Colorado? Nope.
When they say there’s a lack of endangered wildlife living there, that means they smartened up and got rid of them before any inspectors were let in to the area.
Colorado's wildlife protection laws are on par with California's. It's less they got rid of them, and more they chose the site well.
How about the only dam to be built in the last 20 years.
You’ve made a great point! Does a rebuild count, though? Hope Mills Dam in North Carolina, which was rebuilt and became operational in 2018.
All that water is being taken from the Colorado River drainage. This water should be going to Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and Mexico.
Everyone worries about why Lake Meadis is so low - here's another reason.
ca get it own water try steal co . water
Do you know how the continental divide works?😂
I can’t believe this cost less than a billion dollars to build.
They stole the land from the ranchers.
@@Eclipse-ss7ko your mom stole the land from the ranchers. This is colorado. The ranchers and farmers and cities own less than half of the total land in colorado. The federal government owns 95% of the land in nevada
its a shttton cheaper when they make a dam out of rocks stonne, gravel, sannd and finally asphalt Than making it all out of concrete
The editing was disappointment. It failed to clarify the story points and give watcher a clear image of the parts that the narrator was talking about.
They should build more of this projects🇵🇷👍
Colorado probably has the lowest percentage of hydroelectric production compared with its potential. It’s pretty frustrating to spend so much & pay more to make it work instead of using what we have naturally occurring. It’s expensive to pump water through the Divide!
bullshtt. They cann pump the water at night when the wind turbines are powering thhe grid for cheap
@ it’s not free! That means it’s expensive compared to what it could be if we used inline technology
This is an example of being proactive in the fight against water shortages. As long as urban sprawl continues to put people in places they were never intended to live, they will need fresh water supplied to them. Also, this is just like the biblical example of Joseph stockpiling grain during the days of plenty to feed the populace during times of famine. Always plan for the hard times.
You would think that with half a billion dollar to spend that the entire project would be professionally filmed ; not only would this give a comprehensive look at any construction results but provide a documentary for the future. But as always, we'll muse and ponder when questions arise.
Wouldn't the asphalt contaminate the water?
It is a real stretch to forecast that Colorado population will double by 2050. That works out to 3% per year.
I guess it relates directly to the growth from 2000 to 2025…
Isn't Colorado a state that welcomes illegal immigrants, that's the population you are thinking about
Imagine the difficulty this country would have if no one in the past made the hard decisions and spent the big bucks it took to make all of the infrastructure, like our dams and water systems for example . I don’t think most people can even imagine the hardships , lack of productivity, inability to feed ourselves , inability to defend ourselves , difficulty to travel, clothe ourselves etc that we would have now . We would literally be worse off than the poorest third world country.
Why would anyone want to purposely move to a place where you have to worry about a continuous water supply? Just a thought, how about not letting more and more move there. We are destroying ourselves.
Why do people move and live in areas affected by hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, etc?
@@kaylakitty3814 We should restrict people to only live in perfect places🤣
As long as they don't bring their destructive Democratic votes with the.
One of the mail problems is that the federal government thinks it can control the colorado water supply from the colorado river. California is demanding more and more water. They waste a lot of it because the refuse to irragate their crops with drip irragation. The federal government is to blame for many of Colorados water problems.
Are you talking Colorado, or the nation as a whole? If it weren't for legal immigration and illegal immigration, (invasion) that we are experiencing, the population would be decreasing.
GREAT JOB
Take water from the western slope and send it to the eastern slope. Move it out of watershed. Water flows downhill to gravity, but in thi case it flows uphill to money.
Looks very clean...big up to the environmental department
It's not all about preventing flooding. It is about preserving the dam. Keeping it solid when there is an overtopping. See the Lake Oroville near-catastrophe.
Three years to fill, monitoring structure. In the original plan for Teton Dam called for it to be filled in a couple years. This was required as part of the final compaction plan. Of course most of the original design engineers were gone during construction. Then the few engineers monitoring construction quality were gone after completion. Then there was very heavy snow pack the first winter. Project operators thought, great we can comply with minimum downstream flow requirements, fill the reservoir in one year, and start providing irrigation to the farmers a year early.
After failure the investigations listed this as one of three major faults. I don’t think they ever said which one was the definitive cause.
Do not agree with taking water from one natural drainage area to another. That is the beauty of the The Great Lakes Compact. If you are not in the area that drains to the Great lakes, you cannot take water out.
They friggin took our land because of this. Four generations of my family grew up on our land behind the hogback. Those of us who had literal roots in that part of the county weren't the priority but rather developers and people moving here from other places. It's a totally messed up mentality but shouldn't come as a surprise as every politician be it in the state legislature or congress aren't coloradoans but newbs to our state. So natives like us and our other displaced neighbors are treated as second class citizens! Residents fought this land grab for years but here the minority in power do what benefits them most.
You're right. They should totally favor the few over the masses. Those jerks.
WHAT WERE THOSE BASTARDS THINKING HAVING DRINKING WATER...HOW STUPID!
Remember that when you have the same problem @@branchandfoundry560
Anyway.. How about that game tonightg??
womp womp
Firstly, you have to move on to metric units ie Meters and Cubic meters....immense engineering here...hopefully, it is successful.
I live in Denver so this is not an abstract project. Generally, I love big hydrology projects. Hydroelectric dams and the power they provide are arguable the most iconic image of peacetime in the 20th century. Near the end of the film "Dr. Zhivago," a Soviet commissar is standing in front of some enormous dam in Russia, with more social realist grandeur than you can throw an Academy Award at.
But there's a big problem. Water is no longer cheap, plentiful or easy to provide. Suburban sprawl, impractical mega-mansions, profligate water consumption in arid climates, and, of course, a steadily chaotic climate, with less precipitation in the American West, seems to have gone unnoticed. Why? For the same reason schools are underfunded, but guns are too accessible, and housing is too expensive but for 20 years we threw a trillion bucks at two unnecessary wars.
In other words, the politicians who caused the above have also neglected our water problems. So enormous water moving contraptions are funded in a chronic drought state instead of mandating native plant gardens to replace the green grass lawns seen mile after mile in Colorado (and Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho, North Dakota, etc). Or decreasing the number of golf courses, water parks and water-needy crops, like cotton and almonds, in dry regions.
I blamed politicians above, but really it's a certain party's choice; there's only one party that consistently opposes reasonable environmental sustainability proposals. And everyone knows which party puts low taxes ahead of healthy land, air and water.
Mega Builds ❌
Maga Builds ✅
Lake jocassee, lake keowee, lake hartwell
The last major reservoir built in California was New Melones Lake in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. It was completed in 1979 (2025-1979 = about 46 years ago!} and has a capacity up to 2.4 million acre-feet. There is a new reservoir being built, the Sites Reservoir, in Northern California but won't be completed until 2030-2031. Too late!! Thanks to environmental groups and gov newsom.
When environmental groups are involved it’s down hill from there. Colorado is the next California
Somewhere there’s a river that will suffer from reduced water supply.
That’s a fair point! The water for Chimney Hollow comes from the Colorado River, which will see some reduced flows, especially during peak seasons. To help with this, the project includes measures like the Colorado River Connectivity Channel to improve stream health and reduce the impact.
Some dams are being removed to restore rivers. Check our video about it: ua-cam.com/video/TkoLA_hzFGI/v-deo.html
Probably several rivers. It’s usually “for the greater good” of the city people (that the water company can bill).
I expect all the potential “lakeside plots” are already sold to wealthy developers..
@@philtucker1224 - there are no lakeside plots. The surrounding land is all open space with hiking trails. And the reservoir will only allow non-motorized boating.
Does this remove water from the Colorado river watershed and all the states downstream? It seems like it would.
Cali is getting free water
Or you could have a construction moratorium. Simple and free.
at 0:55 that for sure isn't the part of Colorado you're talking about. we don't have those cacti
hydro-dams pay off for all foreseeable future , your kids will enjoy this, and their kids...im norvegian and i got hydro dams close by, i pay 0,12 NKR for 1 kilowatt hour. in us dollars, thats, 1 cent.
😲😳😲
Something about this sounds like the St Francis Dam
I’m about 100% sure Segura cacti do not grow in Colorado
The Hoover Dam and Colorado River are, like many river systems in the west, drying up. Demand is rising as population grows. Wouldn't it be easier to have fewer children and immigrants?
They have been damming up valleys in Kentucky for a long time.
What I think means nothing; what history demonstrates is everything.
Did it ever occur to anyone that creating projects to encourage rapid population growth in a semi-arid climate with inadequate local water might be a bad idea. Siphoning water from another water system just means everything downstream is going to have to deal with perpetually reduced water flow. This plan is creating a guaranteed long term problem just to support urban sprawl.
What's the name of the background music?
Why didn't California have this type of insight?
Why is there a radio playing in the background?
I have to wonder why they did not incorporate some hydro power stations to be powered by all this moving water. I suspect the power companies in that area did not want the competition and did a big lobbying, legal bribery, push to stop anything like that.
Interesting video, thanks. Please provide metric measurements too next time
this is america we dont use communist measurements
Better to have excess water storage capacity
Is it different there?
Some metric numbers might be useful.
What is an acre foot relate to anything else.
Both styles can easily be read out.
an acre is a imperial measure of land
1 foot is the area contained in that measure
hard luck metric as the two systems dont aline
better than 10 football fields
or Olympic pools
May I humbly submit new home construction being required to include an Atmospheric Water generator and tank? How about some personal responsibility for condensation your own water and storing it for personal use and it’s there for putting out a fire?❤
So it's a water tank?
Divide waters and they will be fragile
Boy this is a bunch of semi-random B-roll layered under a redundant script that seems straight from a Wikipedia page. Thus maybe the small subscriber count for all this editing effort. In contrast is Grady at Practical Engineering who knows stuff, goes on site to learn more stuff, and generates millions of subs. The product quality difference is evident.
So you want your Government to tell you what to do?
A pumped water storage system is problematic.
Been doing it for a long time. Carter res. Next to is filled that way.
It's pronounced asphalt, not ashfault. I couldn't figure out what you were trying to say the first few times.
If only the narrator could pronounce "Asphalt"....
Are we? Hadn't heard.
Why does this guy not know how to say Asphalt? He keeps saying ashfelt. I did a search and this doesn’t appear to be a Canadian or British thing either.
Why is this happening because we want more drought we don't want small streams evaporating putting moisture in air and causing rain can't have that we want to keep it all in giant reservoirs and not let that the land have any because we want more drought just because you're population increases doesn't mean the rain increases it just means more water walking around on two feet the human body is mostly water the more bodies you add to an area that less water you have in that area
You'll find some impressive builds in the mountains of British Columbia but, i know thats not all things America!
This would have been impossible in California.
This type of water storage project has been built all over California.
@
Only after years of battling it out in court with dozens of NIMBY lawsuits.
much needed build
No it isn't! Larimer county has sufficient water for it's existing demands as well as those of greeley which has senior water rights on the poudre. This reservoir that is being funded by current residents tax dollars is 100% for new housing, for developers and people who don't live in noco yet. Worst still are the hundreds of families losing some or all of their lands/homes either from the reservoir directly or the work to be done on taft/owl canyon and 287 to pick up the slack from the removal of 10 miles of 287. Our lives and homes should be the priority not developer profits and future migrants to larimer county!
i am ignorant at this point, seems asphalt, and water dont mix well.....but im sure quality, and security (safeness) of drinking water will be ok......on another note, this might piss on the folks south of them....."demanding" more water from that area.
Cloud seading is needed before opening on top of its mountains.
Seeding...they are seeding clouds. Never heard of seading...😂
This project is just over the hill from me. Today they were still using dynamite.
Good another reservoir on a river system that is having trouble filling the existing reservoirs.
Colorado has been diverting water out of the Colorado River for over a hundred years California for 80 years Arizona, Utah and Nevada for slightly less and people are blaming global warming for the River drying up. You can only take from a resource for so long before it runs out. California needs to invest in desalination the cities in the west that have effectively run out of water decades ago need to slow or stop their growth. Building a new reservoir filling it with the same water you are already using and thinking that you have created a new source is insanity.
California send their fresh to the ocean ,lol
I don't understand why they didn't build turbines within the dam to produce electricity 🔌😢
It's not on a river, so it won't get a constant flow of water. The water is being pumped in via pipes from the nearest source. Expect for seasonal rains and snow melt, it won't have water running into it, so there will rarely be enough water coming out through the one spillway to warrant a water turbine. Which would only work during years with exceptional rainfall or snowmelt.
You can walk across the poudre in the winter and late fall without getting your feet wet. It's more of a large creek than a river.
Hope the people down stream know how to swim.
so moving water from the west is a problem solver? lucky it is a mini dam.
Um……well we will see 🤔
A permo culture cet.. practices...
Located in the foothills west of Berthoud Colorado. Loveland is 10 miles north.
Sounds like ur saying ash-felt lol
🤣
Can you spell California needs h2O
not enough water? maybe too many people are trying to live there,and they should stay away from that land.
Insuring a steady supply of water...
While denying it to those who have previously used it.
Typical.
If the US would adopt better farming practices this would not be such a huge issue, but it doesn't so... suburbs get the water and farmers are left with less and less, meaning they can grow less (and places like Chile get a bigger piece of the US agricultural needs and the HUGE carbon footprint that goes along with it) and can provide less to those same suburbs until... well, it all falls apart under the current 'Make the Rich RICHER again' administration and the US becomes Fallout New Vegas (or whatever the title was).
“…and entire valley…”. Has numbnutz never heard of the Hoover dam?
Theirs no solutions only trade offs
Making half moons cet ideas...
Ai vibes with lots of waffle and stock footage from everywhere else! Thumbs down!
hmmm.
It ain't gonna be big enough
Happy with the damn, but it's a gross misuse of Colorado lottery money which is supposed to be used for wildlands, parks, and recreation. The state should be sued.
Well, there are two easy ways that they will justify it:
(1) a reservoir is a lake that people will use for recreation. It would be a state park. And they could easily charge extra to fish here.
(2) water will be sold. Either by the gallon or acre-foot this second part will quickly pay for itself.
But, yeah: this seems like a illegal appropriation of funds for an ultimately necessary project.
How is it a misuse of public money? It provides water for the population, and the lake can be used for recreation.
@@joeylawn36111Will they allow people to use the water for recreational purposes? Most of the reservoirs in So Cal exclude the general public, so as to not contaminate the drinking water
@@bubbalove2261 Maybe they won't, but my point is that a state government spending money for Infrastructure can't be no "misuse" - as that's a part of the govt's job is to provide it for the people.
Wildlands, parks, and and non-motorized recreation are a very large part of the project. All of the surrounding land is preserved as open space and hiking trails.
🏹☯🇺🇸🎴🏹
It will get stopped to save a rare cactus or spotted frog!
How about getting stopped by multigenerational land owners? But no that battle was lost so developers can keep building homes and profiting at our expense. Larimer county currently has more than sufficient water resources for it's current residents, none of this was needed. But as is the norm regular people lose out to those with deep pockets and political clout every time. Generations of our family lived and grew up behind the hogback but because of this damn dam there will be no more generations growing up where we used to call home before eminent domain. Hundreds of families affected, lost out either as a direct consequence of building the reservoir and consequint re routing of 287 via taft and owl canyon.