1939: Water Power

Reports received from representatives of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce of the Department of Commerce and from the consular agents of the State Department as to water power developments in foreign countries, from the Dominion Water and Power Bureau as to developments in Canada, and from the Bureau of Reclamation, the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the district engineers, United States Geological Survey as to developments in the United States, show an increase of reported installed capacities during 1939 of about 1,130,000 horsepower, making the total capacity of installed water wheels in the world about 66,000,000 horsepower as of Dec. 31, 1939.

No reports were received from Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Madagascar, Manchukuo, Mexico, Poland, Uruguay, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the above increase and total will ultimately be enlarged by the capacities of water wheels installed in those countries during the year.

The United States has led the world in water power utilization with an increase of 393,000 h.p. during 1939, with the largest installation in a single plant, 1,057,000 h.p. at Boulder Dam on the Colorado River, and with the greatest total capacity of installed water wheels, about 18,350,000 horsepower.

Several countries report extensive developments in progress, notably Chosen (Korea), Japan, and the U.S.S.R. but the rates of progress on these developments have not been reported. The greatest national program is that which is in progress in the United States, with several million horsepower under construction, including many outstanding plants of which the following are especially notable: On the Tennessee River at Gilbertsville, Ky., 220,000 h.p.; at Hiwassee Dam, N. C., 80,000 h.p.; at Chicamauga, Tenn., 108,000 h.p.; at Pickwick Landing, Tenn., 96,000 h.p.; at Watts Bar, Tenn., 126,000 h.p.; on the Santee River, S. C., the Santee-Cooper development, 213,500 h.p.; on the Missouri River at Fort Peck, Mont., 500,000 h.p.; on the Columbia River at Bonneville Dam, Oregon, 148,000 h.p.; at Grand Coulee, Washington, 460,000 h.p.; on the Sacramento River, California, the Central Valley project, 407,000 horsepower. See also CIVIL ENGINEERING.