Sanford Cooling Reservoir

About Sanford Cooling Reservoir

Sanford Cooling Reservoir is a dam in Volusia, Florida. The dam is owned by Florida Power & Light Company (private). It impounds the St Johns River-offstream near St Johns River Estates.

The dam stands 34 feet tall and stretches 31,000 feet across, creates a reservoir covering 1,105 acres, and has a maximum storage capacity of 18,000 acre-feet. Completed in 1971, the structure is well into its service life at over 50 years old.

This dam carries a high hazard potential classification, which means that a failure or uncontrolled release of water would likely cause loss of human life. This classification reflects the consequences of failure, not the likelihood — it indicates that people live or work in the area downstream. Its condition is rated satisfactory, indicating no existing or potential dam safety deficiencies are recognized. Notably, no emergency action plan is currently on file for this high-hazard dam. The most recent inspection on record was 07/27/2014. That was 11 years ago — unusually long for a high-hazard dam, which typically requires more frequent inspections.

At 34 feet, this dam is taller than 80% of dams nationwide.

Living Downstream

If you live or work downstream of this dam, consider taking these steps: learn your local evacuation routes, check whether your county emergency management office has a dam failure inundation map, and sign up for local emergency alerts. The Florida dam safety program can provide more specific information about emergency planning for this structure.

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