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Talk:Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant

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There are references to two court cases, the United States Supreme Court case allowing the Indian territory to be taken for construction, and a law suit regarding the chemical contamination which was subsequently settled. There are citations for both, but in each instance the case name should be listed and a citation to the official reporter should be provided. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.99.27.34 (talk) 15:28, 19 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The current text was written by someone who does not fully understand this hydroelectric facility. I encourage someone to write prose that uses the following:

- day and night, water is diverted from the Niagara River via underground tunnels into the lower reservoir (also referred to as a forebay) of about 740 million gallons of maximum capacity - during the day, the water in the forebay flows into the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant located on the banks of the Niagara River (13 turbines) - during the day, less water is diverted from the Niagara River through the tunnels to maintain a visually appealing flow of water over the Falls as established via treaty between the U.S. and Canada. - during the day, to compensate for the reduced water flow into the forebay from the river tunnels, the forebay is also filled with water released from the upper reservoir. This water flows from the upper reservoir, through the 12 pump-turbines of the Lewiston Pump-Generating Plant and into the forebay, and then into the turbines of the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, finally ending up in the lower Niagara River. The upper reservoir contains about 22 billion gallons maximum and is about 1900 acres in surface area. - at night, some of the water flowing into the forebay is pumped up into the upper reservoir by reversing the pump-generators in the Lewiston Pump-Generating Plant. This flow largely replaces the amount of water that was released from the upper reservoir earlier in the day. - the combination of varying the amount of water diverted from the Falls and storing and releasing water in the upper reservoir provides the balance to produce the maximum amount of energy from the amount of water diversion allowed by treaty and maintain a valuable tourism industry centered around the Falls.

I tried to find a map that clearly shows the tunnels, plants and reservoirs, but surprisingly could not find one.

I am not sure if this article qualifies to have the "Dams in New York" category. It is a power station fed by a man-made constructed reservoir. I am sure there are dams involved but the vast majority of the article and facility is based around the power station. The Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Stations are a similar facility and not label or categorized as a dam. I wish to remove the category and adjust the intro wording.--NortyNort (talk) 19:57, 15 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If I am not mistaken, it is a dam, without doubt. The power station is fed by the reservoir, which is held back by the dam. Have a look here, and you'll also notice the elevation differences (in Google Earth mode) supporting this fact. Rehman⁽⁺⁾ 02:54, 30 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know the specifics but the reservoir east of the power station is man-made in the sense that it was excavated. The reservoir is filled by a canal that diverts water into it before it would go over Niagara Falls. The reservoir then releases water down to the Robert Moses power station. The power station doesn't hold back a reservoir from top to bottom, it is just fed by that water flowing into the back. So in that sense I don't see it being a dam.--NortyNort (Holla) 09:33, 30 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. The thing is, assume there was a serious problem with some/all of the turbines (Sayano-Shushenskaya?), then the facility will (orshould) be able to shut-off water flow through the plant. Simply being able to do that, would definitely make it a dam. Even though they never do it on normal occasions. But if it's absolutely made sure that it can't do such a thing as holding back water, no matter what, then I suppose we can completely remove the word "dam" from the vicinity of this article. :) Cheers. Rehman⁽⁺⁾ 10:53, 30 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well, if it failed they could close off the upper reservoir and the canal as well which provide additional control before reaching the actual power plant. This article here which I just read explains the process well. It says it is not a "typical dam".--NortyNort (Holla) 11:02, 30 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes you're right, I didn't notice this dam above this "facility". Weird though when they could simply design this dam to also be able to control flow; saves resources. Cheers. Rehman⁽⁺⁾ 11:51, 30 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yea, so people get to see the cool Niagara Falls. It'd be amazing how much power would be produced if they diverted the entire river.--NortyNort (Holla) 12:37, 30 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I took a photo of the plant when I was there today, and put it up on Flickr: [1] It's licensed CC so if anyone wants to add it here go ahead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.100.71.138 (talk) 02:06, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that is a nice picture. I think it would make a good replacement for the main picture (I would just crop the right a little). The only problem is that you licensed it non-commercial so it can't be used on Wikipedia. --NortyNort (Holla) 03:11, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... yes, that's a problem. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.100.71.138 (talk) 14:53, 27 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Didn't there used to be a railroad bridge next to the dam on the reservoir side? Note the railroad tracks just south of the university, you can see where they went through where the campus is. On the north side of the reservoir you can see the 'road' continue with several short tunnels under roadways. Does anyone know more about this? The article doesn't mention a railroad bridge, but it would have probably pre-dated the dam and been very high off the water, right? --76.115.67.114 (talk) 04:56, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]