#12 Medium Sized Dam featuring Sluice Gates

Description: The dam pictured above is one of thousands of such dams spread across the United States.  This dam is used to control the flow of water downstream by limiting the flow of the river over itself.  Water volume is regulated by raising and lowering steel doors, called sluice gates, on top of the dam.  During normal conditions this dam operates with two sluice gates partially open, but during flooding more gates can be opened to allow more water to pass.  It is very important that too much water doesn’t build up behind the dam which could lead to dam failure.