Selected Characteristics of Large Reservoirs, USGS

This is a point coverage of dams in the United States and Puerto Rico, which originally was derived from the national inventory of dams database (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1982). The coverage includes locations of and selected characteristics of approximately 2,700 reservoirs and controlled natural lakes that have normal capacities of at least 5,000 acre-feet or maximum capacities of at least 25,000 acre-feet and that were completed as of January 1, 1988. This coverage is intended as a thematic data layer showing thelocation of dams and certain attributes of the structures. Information contained in the coverage has been used for several applications. Location, size, and owner of structures are depicted on a map of surface-water development (Hitt, 1985). Location and other selected characteristics of structures are listed in table 3 of Ruddy and Hitt (1990).The information was the basis for graphics in two National Water Summary reports. The 1985 National Water Summary shows maps of surface-water development. The 1987 National Water Summary shows graphs of cumulative reservoir storage.