During Mom and Harold's visit back in April, we had the pleasure of getting a full blown tour of Wanapum Dam where my co-worker's (aka "Farmer Nicole") husband, David, works.
The dam is one of 16(?) along the Columbia River, about an hour east of Ellensburg. It produces hydro-electricity not only for parts of Washington, but California as well. For more info, check out the website: http://www.gcpud.org/resources/resEnergy/wanapum.htm.
An outside view of the dam
Hard hats required!
Above is inside the upper section of the dam. Notice the large crane at the top. This crane travels along the entire length of the building to transport the equipment in and out.
It just so happened that the day we were there they were replacing one of the turbines. This is what I called "the space ship", but is really the propeller that was being replaced.
After touring the upper level and getting wobbly knees from looking down into the hole where the turbine fits in, we took an elevator three stories down. At this level, we could see where the water came in and was directed into the propellers to maximize speed and flow. We also saw the massive tubs of hot grease needed to keep the 16 turbines lubricated. It was unbelievable. The gauges were uncountable, but are monitored by just one person 24 hours a day.
For the next part of the tour, we continued another three stories down at which point we were 60 feet under water and could look up at the propellers. Apparently there was one more story below that wasn't accessible to visitors.
We walked down a long hallway with little stairways and doors as seen below. We had to wear earplugs to reduce the amount of noise created by the thousands of gallons of water rushing through the turbines behind each little door. David said we'd be under water in about 10 seconds if any of the doors were opened. Freaky!
That being said, he proceeded to lead us through the door of the room to the turbine that was in the long process of being replaced. It was the coldest, darkest, dampest place I had ever been in my life, yet a half a dozen guys carried on their work, not thinking anything of it.
A crane from the outside moves along the top length of the dam to provide this wall, if necessary, to block off any of the turbine rooms. This picture doesn't do justice, but it's what's holding back the 60 feet of water above us from coming in. Because it's metal, it doesn't seal completely, allowing just enough water to make us a little nervous. For perspective, you can barely see the top of David's head (at the bottom of the picture) who is about 6"5'. Graham says it was like being inside some gigantic Indiana Jones temple.
Grandma Sara and Hannah enjoying the tour
If you have time, read through the history of the dam and how amazing it was that 1. someone came up with the idea and design, 2. the amount of man-power it took to build it and 3. just how incredibly HUGE it is. It's hard to impress me, but boy, was I impressed! I have such a new respect for engineers and all those folks who work "down below" to keep this place running.
And thanks, David, for taking the time to show us your "office" on your day off!
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