Overview

Friant Dam is a concrete gravity dam 319 feet high with a crest length of 3,488 feet on the upper San Joaquin River in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Fresno County, California near the town of Friant. The dam, completed in 1942, forms Millerton Lake and was built by the Bureau of Reclamation, which owns and operates the dam.

The lake and dam are about 15 miles (24 km) north of downtown Fresno. The lake storage capacity is 520,500acre·ft (642,000dam³) for irrigation of the San Joaquin Valley, which is distributed by the Madera- and Friant-Kern-Canals. The dam controls the San Joaquin River flows and provides for: downstream releases to meet water delivery requirements above Mendota Pool; provides flood control, conservation storage, and water diversions into Madera and Friant-Kern Canals; and delivers water to a million acres of agricultural land in Fresno, Kern, Madera, and Tulare Counties in the San Joaquin Valley.

Its secondary uses include flood control and recreation. Upstream from the dam is the Big Creek hydroelectric system.

The 25 megawatt Friant Power Plant in front of the dam produces hydroelectricity for the Friant Power Authority. There are two smaller power plants that produce power with the minimum-flow release water and the water for fish hatchery operations.

General

Dimensions

Hydraulics & Hydrology