Water Where We Want It
c2700 BC
-2700 -2700
114.45W36.01N
SCI

SOUTHERN NEVADA
	Dams have made life easier for people since the beginning of recorded history.  They have been used for diverting and storing water, and more recently for power, flood protection and recreation.
	The oldest dam is probably the Sadd el-Kafara on the Nile, a masonry dam built about 2,700 BC. The Mesopotamians and Chinese also built dams, and later the Romans constructed dams in Italy and northern Africa.
	Ancient dams used earth, rock, or masonry.  But in the 1800s and 1900s, engineers developed hollow, reinforced concrete dams.  This led to the construction of large dams for power and recreation, such as Hoover Dam on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada.  Hoover Dam was the tallest dam in the world when it was built in the middle of the 20th Century.
	Currently, the highest dam in the world is the hydroelectric Rogun Dam in the Soviet Union.  It towers 335 feet above the valley floor.