Foster Dam is an embankment type rock-fill dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 across the South Santiam River

South Santiam River

The South Santiam River is a tributary of the Santiam River, about long, in western Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of the Cascade Range into the Willamette Valley east of Corvallis....

 near Sweet Home

Sweet Home, Oregon

Sweet Home is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States. The population was 8,016 at the 2000 census. Sweet Home is sometimes referred to as the "Gateway to the Santiam Playground", due to its proximity to nearby lakes, rivers and the Cascade Mountains....

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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Designed by the Corps of Engineers

United States Army Corps of Engineers

The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

, it began service on August 22, 1968. Its primary purpose is flood control

Flood control

In communications, flood control is a feature of many communication protocols designed to prevent overwhelming of a destination receiver. Such controls can be implemented either in software or in hardware, and will often request that the message be resent after the receiver has finished...

 but it also provides power, navigation improvement downstream and irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

. The damming of the river created Foster Reservoir

Foster Reservoir

Foster Reservoir is a reservoir created by Foster Dam on the South Santiam River near the city of Sweet Home, Oregon, United States. The reservoir is approximately 5.6 km long and contains approximately 494 ha when full. Primary use of the reservoir is recreation in the summer and flood...

, which is a popular fishing and water sports area. The reservoir stores 28300 acre.ft. The powerhouse has two generators with a capacity totaling 20 MW. The dam regulates water flow from the main facility, Green Peter Dam

Green Peter Dam

Green Peter Dam is a concrete gravity dam impounding the middle Santiam River in Linn County, Oregon. It was built to generate hydroelectricity, prevent flood damage, provide irrigation, and improve water quality downstream...

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