An aerial photo of the upper reservoir of the Taum Sauk plant. Source: Ameren

Water stored in the upper reservoir is available for hydroelectric generation during times of peak demand.

The two generators are each capable of producing up to 225 MW of power.

The Taum Sauk pumped storage plant (which suffered a catastrophic failure December 14, 2005) is located in the St. Francois mountain region of the Missouri Ozarks approximately 90 miles (145 km) south of St. Louis near Lesterville, Missouri. The Pumped-storage hydroelectric plant, operated by the AmerenUE electric company, is designed to help meet peak power demands during the day. Electrical generators are turned by water flowing from a reservoir on top of Proffit Mountain into a lower reservoir on the East Fork of the Black River. The generators and turbines at river level are reversible, and at night the excess electricity available on the power grid is used to pump water back to the mountaintop. Image File history File links TaumSaukUpperReservoir-Ameren. ... Image File history File links TaumSaukUpperReservoir-Ameren. ... Download high resolution version (870x591, 115 KB)Description: An oblique topographic view of the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant. ... Download high resolution version (870x591, 115 KB)Description: An oblique topographic view of the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant. ... Image File history File links Description: Power plant for the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant. ... Image File history File links Description: Power plant for the Taum Sauk pumped storage plant. ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Template:Diffgggtgerent calendars 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This shaded-relief map shows the location and extent of the St. ... Official language(s) none, English most common Capital Largest city Jefferson City Kansas City Area  - Total   - Width   - Length    - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 21st 69,709 sq mi  180,693 km² 240 miles  385 km 300 miles  480 km 1. ... Ozark redirects here. ... Nickname: Gateway City, Gateway to the West, or Mound City Official website: http://stlouis. ... Lesterville, Missouri is an unincorporated community in southeast Missouri. ... Pumped storage hydroelectricity is a method of storing and producing electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations. ... Ameren Corporation is a holding company for several power companies and energy companies. ... An electrical generator is a device that produces electrical energy from a mechanical energy source. ... Gelmersee is a reservoir in Switzerland. ... WWII era steam turbine used for ship propulsion. ...

The Taum Sauk plant is notable in that it is a pure pump-back operation – there is no natural primary flow available for generation, unlike most other pumped storage sites. It was among the largest such project when it was built. Construction of the Taum Sauk plant was begun in 1960 and operation began in 1963. The two original reversible pump-turbine units were each capable of generating 175 megawatts of power. They were upgraded in 1999 to units capable of 225 megawatts each. Diagram of the TVA pumped storage facility at Racoon Mountain Pumped storage hydroelectricity is a method of storing and producing electricity to supply high peak demands. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

The upper reservoir has a capacity of 4,350 acre-feet (5,366,000 m³). The upper reservoir is 800 feet (244 m) above the hydroelectric plant, which gives it a greater head than that of Hoover Dam. The two are connected by a 7000 ft (2100 m) tunnel through the mountain. In fluid dynamics, head refers to the constant right hand side in the incompressible steady version of Bernoullis equation. ... Hoover Dam Downstream from Hoover Dam, showing the river, power stations, and power lines. ...

This powerplant is a net consumer of electricity; the laws of thermodynamics dictate that more power is consumed pumping the water up the mountain than is generated when it comes down. However, the plant can still be economical to operate – the reservoir is filled at night when the electrical generation system is running at baseline capacity, and the power used for pump-back would otherwise be wasted. The laws of thermodynamics, in principle, describe the specifics for the transport of heat and work in thermodynamic processes. ...

That the Taum Sauk reservoir (37d32m10s N, 90d49m05s W) is atop Proffit Mountain and not Taum Sauk Mountain (37d34m13s N, 90d43m40s W) is often a source of confusion to tourists seeking to visit the site. Taum Sauk Mountain, the highest point in Missouri, is about five miles (8 km) east of Proffit Mountain and hosts a state park, not a reservoir. The reservoir is plainly visible from the lookout tower on Taum Sauk Mountain adjacent to the state park. Visitors can usually drive to the top of Proffit Mountain and walk a ramp to an observation deck at the top of the reservoir. At the entrance gate Ameren also operates a museum highlighting the natural history of Missouri. The powerplant is frequently visited by geology students because of a striking example of Precambrian/Cambrian unconformity in the rock layers exposed by the plant's construction. Taum Sauk Mountain is part of a large parks-and-wilderness area. ... The Precambrian is an informal name for the eons of the geologic timescale that came before the current Phanerozoic eon. ... The Cambrian is a major division of the geologic timescale that begins about 542 Ma (million years ago) at the end of the Proterozoic eon and ended about 488. ... There is a billion year gap in the geologic record where this 500 million year old dolomite lies on 1. ...

Leaks and lining

There had been minor leaks in the reservoir since it was constructed. From September 13, 2004 to November 15, 2004 Geo-Synthetics Inc. installed lining material to reduce leaks.[1]

Upper reservoir breached

For more information see Taum Sauk Dam Failure

A large section of the upper reservoir failed, draining over a billion gallons of water in less than half an hour.

On the morning of December 14, 2005, a triangular section on the northwest side of the upper reservoir failed, releasing a billion gallons (4 million m³) of water in twelve minutes and sending a 20 foot (7m) crest of water down the Black River. According to AmerenUE, a computer software problem caused the reservoir to continue filling even though it was already at its normal level. The water overtopped the walls, leading to the failure at 5:12 a.m. In addition, preliminary indications are that minor leakage through the dam walls over a prolonged period, had carried away fine material in the walls, weakening the reservoir's holding walls. Piping ultimately creates voids in reservoir walls and causes reservoir walls to slump and fail. The failure of the reservoir occurred as the reservoir was being filled to capacity or may have possibly been overtopped. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Taum Sauk pumped storage plant. ... Image File history File links Taum_Sauk_reservoir-FERC_12-22-05_01. ... Image File history File links Taum_Sauk_reservoir-FERC_12-22-05_01. ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Template:Diffgggtgerent calendars 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Black River is a tributary of the White River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, and is approximately 280 miles (450 km) long. ...

There was no overflow spillway. A maximum fill level was reported to be 6 feet below the top. If the reservoir was filled in 16 hours and is 55 acres across, that would calculate to about 1 ft of water rise in 12 minutes. The reservoir would have overflowed in appoximately 72 minutes, once the maximum level was exceeded. It likely that the reservoir failed once water overflowed the reservoir as earthen levees will erode when overtopped.

The reservoir had been lined with a membrane in 2004 to minimize water leakage. The reservoir had been losing two foot of water for some time prior to the lining. When fine material is washed out of a reservoir structure, the phenomena is known as "piping". When piping occurs, the reservoir structure can settle in or slump, which means water may start flowing over its top – but that is because a weakened area in the reservoir has settled down

Periodic surveys are necessary at a reservoir to identify if leakage and "piping" is occurring.

No fatalities were reported. Jerry Toops, his wife and three children were swept away when the wall of water obliterated their home. Toops is the superintendent of Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park and Taum Sauk State Parks -- which make up Missouri's second largest state park (Lake of the Ozarks is larger). They survived with injuries and suffering from exposure however their problems were compounded by improper treatment by rescue workers for Hypothermia. The children were treated for the problems in St. Louis and later released. An unknown number of homes and vehicles were flooded. Johnsons Shut-Ins State Park is a Missouri state park on the Black River in Reynolds County. ... Taum Sauk Mountain is part of a large parks-and-wilderness area. ... The Lake of the Ozarks is a large man-made reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in central the Missouri Ozarks. ... Hypothermia is a medical condition in which the victims core body temperature has dropped to significantly below normal and normal metabolism begins to be impaired. ... Nickname: Gateway City, Gateway to the West, or Mound City Official website: http://stlouis. ...

The dam of the lower reservoir held, trapping much of the deluge. If it had given way then towns downstream, including Lesterville and Centerville would have been in grave danger. A voluntary evacuation order was issued for those areas, but there was no damage. The high water was stopped at Clearwater Lake, the dam of which was not damaged by the rising waters.[2] Lesterville, Missouri is an unincorporated community in southeast Missouri. ... Centerville is a city located in Reynolds County, Missouri. ... Clearwater Lake is a famous lake named after these places and or lakes Clearwater Lake is a lake and campsite in the Ocala National Forest ...

A memo from Richard Cooper, superintendent of Ameren’s Taum Sauk Hydroelectric Plant, indicated that the reservoir had a "Niagara Falls" style overflow on September 27 at the same spot that was breached, (caused by wave action related to winds from Hurricane Rita.) Another Cooper memo had also indicated that Cooper had warned that gauges used to monitor the water height in the reservoir were malfunctioning in October.

Church Mountain reservoir

The lower reservoir for a Church Mountain plant would flood 400 acres (1.6 km²) of Taum Sauk Creek valley.

In June, 2001, Ameren Development Corp, a subsidiary of Ameren Corporation, announced that it had filed for a permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in order to begin evaluating the construction of a much larger pump-back plant on neighboring Church Mountain. The upper reservoir of this 770 megawatt plant would be 130 acres (0.5 km²), and the lower reservoir would flood 400 acres (1.6 km²) of the scenic and environmentally significant Taum Sauk Creek valley. Resistance from a number of environmental groups, the Missouri governor's office, and the state's attorney general caused the company to conclude it was impossible to build the plant in both an environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner, and the permit application was withdrawn in August of 2001. Description: View from Proffit Mountain to Taum Sauk Mountain in the St. ... Description: View from Proffit Mountain to Taum Sauk Mountain in the St. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the United States federal agency with jurisdiction over interstate electricity sales, wholesale electric rates, hydroelectric licensing, natural gas pricing, and oil pipeline rates. ...

External links

• Ameren website on Taum Sauk and Johnson's Shut-Ins restoration

Coordinates: 37.53611111° N -90.81805556° E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically); large version (pdf) The geographic (earth-mapping) coordinate system expresses every horizontal position on Earth by two of the three coordinates of a spherical coordinate system which is aligned with the spin axis of the Earth. ...

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