OROVILLE DAM

earth-fill dam on the Feather River, California, U.S., completed in 1968 by the state of California. It is one of the highest embankment dams in the world. The dam, 754 feet (230 m) high and 6,799 feet (2,073 m) long at its crest, has a volume of 78,000,000 cubic yards (59,635,000 cubic m) and forms a reservoir of 3,484,000 acre-feet (4,297,000,000 cubic m) capacity. The first and key unit of the Feather River project, which serves extensive areas in central and southern California hundreds of miles distant, Oroville Dam provides irrigation water, flood control, and 440 megawatts of hydroelectric-power capacity.