Lake Havasu is a large reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 behind Parker Dam

Parker Dam

Parker Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam that crosses the Colorado River downstream of Hoover Dam. Built between 1934 and 1938 by the Bureau of Reclamation, it is high, of which are below the riverbed, making it "the deepest dam in the world". The dam's primary functions are to create a...

 on the Colorado River

Colorado River

The Colorado River , is a river in the Southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. The watershed of the Colorado River covers in parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states...

, on the border between California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. Lake Havasu City sits on the lake's eastern shore. The lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 has a capacity of 648000 acre.ft. The concrete arch 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...

 was built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation

United States Bureau of Reclamation

The United States Bureau of Reclamation , and formerly the United States Reclamation Service , is an agency under the U.S...

 between 1934 and 1938. The lake's primary purpose is to store water for pumping into two aqueducts.

Fauna

• Sunfish
  Redear sunfish
  The redear sunfish , also known as the shellcracker, Georgia bream, cherry gill, chinquapin, improved bream, rouge ear sunfish and sun perch, is native to the southeastern United States, but since it is a popular sport fish it has been introduced to bodies of water all over North America...
  
  
• Largemouth Bass
  Largemouth bass
  The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
  
  
• Smallmouth Bass
  Smallmouth bass
  The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
  
  
• Striped Bass
  Striped bass
  The striped bass is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire...
  
  
• Crappie
  Crappie
  Crappie is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is P. annularis, the white crappie...
  
  
• Sunfish
  Centrarchidae
  The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
  
  
• Catfish (Channel)
  Channel catfish
  Channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, is North America's most numerous catfish species. It is the official fish of Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee, and is informally referred to as a "channel cat". In the United States they are the most fished catfish species with approximately 8...
  
  
• Catfish (Flathead)
  Flathead catfish
  The flathead catfish , also called the yellow cat, opelousas, and shovelhead cat, are large North American freshwater catfish. This is the only species of the genus Pylodictis...
  
  
• Carp
  Carp
  Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
  
  
• Turtles
• Razorback sucker
  Razorback sucker
  The razorback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus, is an endangered fresh water sucker of rivers in the Colorado River drainage of western North America.-Description:...
  
  

Aqueducts

Mark Wilmer Pumping Plant pumps water into the Central Arizona Project Aqueduct

Central Arizona Project Aqueduct

The Central Arizona Project is a 336 mi diversion canal in Arizona in the United States. The aqueduct diverts water from the Colorado River from Lake Havasu City near Parker into central and southern Arizona. The CAP is the largest and most expensive aqueduct system ever constructed in the...

. Whitsett Pumping Plant is located on the lake and lifts the water 291 feet (88.7 m) for the Colorado River Aqueduct

Colorado River Aqueduct

The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California . The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on the California-Arizona border west across the Mojave...

. Gene Pumping Plant is just south of Parker Dam and gives the water an additional boost of 303 feet (92.4 m). The Colorado River Aqueduct has three more pumping plants, Iron Mountain, 144 feet (43.9 m), Eagle Mountain, 438 feet (133.5 m) and Julian Hinds, 441 feet (134.4 m). The total lift is 1617 feet (492.9 m).

Lake Havasu City

Robert Paxton McCulloch (May 11, 1911 – February 25, 1977) was an American entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

 most notable for McCulloch Chainsaws and for purchasing the old London Bridge

London Bridge (Lake Havasu City)

London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, United States, that is the reconstruction of the 1831 London Bridge that spanned the River Thames in London, England until it was dismantled in 1967. The Arizona bridge is a reinforced concrete structure clad in the original masonry of the...

 and moving it to one of the cities he founded, Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Lake Havasu sparked the imagination of McCulloch, who purchased 3500 acres (1,416.4 ha) of lakeside property along Pittsburgh Point, the peninsula that eventually would be transformed into "the island".

Features

Lake Havasu is well known for its recreational fishing and boating, which bring in 3.5 million visitors a year. Fishing tournaments are often held on the lake, where bass

Bass (fish)

Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...

 are the main catch.

White sturgeon

White sturgeon

The white sturgeon , also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon, is a sturgeon which lives along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to Central...

 were stocked in Lake Havasu in 1967 and 1968 from stock obtained from San Pablo Bay, California. While some dead sturgeon were found downstream from Havasu (probably killed during passage over dams), living fish have not been recorded, but may still exist along the southern end of Lake Havasu near Parker Dam. Sturgeon

Sturgeon

Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...

have been known to grow upwards of 20 feet (6 meters) and can live in excess of 100 years and many in and around Lake Havasu continue in their efforts to catch a glimpse of the majestic animal.

External links

• Movies filmed in Lake Havasu
• Lake Havasu Visitors Bureau
• United States Bureau of Reclamation
• Arizona Boating Locations Facilities Map
• Arizona Fishing Locations Map
• USGS - Real-time water data for Lake Havasu near Parker Dam
• Lake Havasu Colorado River Interactive Map
• Lake Havasu Business Directory & Phone Book