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Posted On: July 28th 2026, 06:35 pm
Where Does the Water Actually Go? 🌊🌀 Inside the Monticello Dam “Glory Hole”
It looks like a terrifying endless void in the middle of the lake, but it’s actually a brilliant piece of hydraulic engineering. Meet the “Morning Glory” spillway at Monticello Dam.
When heavy rains cause the reservoir to reach maximum level, this massive 72-foot-wide (22m) concrete funnel acts like a giant drain plug. Instead of letting water overflow and catastrophically destroy the dam structure, it safely swallows the excess water.
As you can see in this cross-section analysis, the water drops down a massive 250-foot vertical tunnel and is safely discharged back into the lower riverbed at high velocity.
Engineering is beautiful, isn’t it? 🛠️📐
#engineeringmarvels #civilengineering #howitworks #megastructures #hydraulics
It looks like a terrifying endless void in the middle of the lake, but it’s actually a brilliant piece of hydraulic engineering. Meet the “Morning Glory” spillway at Monticello Dam.
When heavy rains cause the reservoir to reach maximum level, this massive 72-foot-wide (22m) concrete funnel acts like a giant drain plug. Instead of letting water overflow and catastrophically destroy the dam structure, it safely swallows the excess water.
As you can see in this cross-section analysis, the water drops down a massive 250-foot vertical tunnel and is safely discharged back into the lower riverbed at high velocity.
Engineering is beautiful, isn’t it? 🛠️📐
#engineeringmarvels #civilengineering #howitworks #megastructures #hydraulics
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