Is Hoover Dam the largest concrete dam in the world?

Today, the Hoover Dam is the second highest dam in the country and the 18th highest in the world. It generates more than four billion kilowatt-hours a year -- that's enough to serve 1.3 million people! Here's how this dam stacks up against some of the biggest dams in the world.



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Think of it as a giant Lego set, with over 200 blocks fitted together to stand 726 feet tall. The Hoover Dam has been called the Eighth Wonder of the World, comparable to the Great Pyramids of Egypt, and “a vision in the desert.”

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Here are a few facts on the Sardar Sarovar Dam, the second-biggest concrete gravity dam in the world after the Grand Coulee Dam in the United States.

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Hoover Dam was built for a cost of $49 million (approximately $760 million adjusted for inflation). The power plant and generators cost an additional $71 million. The sale of electrical power generated by the dam paid back its construction cost, with interest, by 1987.

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They stretch for some 124 miles (200 kilometers) along the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze and are renowned for their scenic beauty. The dam is some 1.4 miles (2.3 kilometers) long and 607 feet (185 meters) tall—five times larger than the U.S.'s Hoover Dam.

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Niagara Falls doesn't even find a mention in the unofficial list of seven wonders of the world, let alone the official one [if there would be any].

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But Joseph Stevens, author of “Hoover Dam: An American Adventure,” says he doesn't think a project like the Hoover Dam would get off the ground if it were attempted today. “Worker safety rules and environmental impact assessments would make the Hoover Dam too expensive.”

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Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, security was again reinforced at Hoover. As a major supplier of electricity to the U.S. defense industry, the dam was deemed to be a prime military target.

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