A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. 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. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC.
The Vaal Dam in South Africa was constructed in 1938 and lies 77 km south of OR Tambo International Airport. The lake behind the dam wall has a surface area of about 320 square kilometres (120 sq mi) and is 47 meters deep. The Vaal Dam lies on the Vaal River, which is one of South Africa's strongest-flowing rivers. Other rivers flowing into the dam are the Wilge River, Klip River, Molspruit and Grootspruit. It has over 800 kilometres (500 mi) of shoreline and is South Africa's second biggest dam by area and the fourth largest by volume.
The Kurobe Dam (黒部ダム) or Kuroyon Dam (黒四ダム), is a 186 m (610 ft) high variable-radius arch dam on the Kurobe River in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. The tallest dam in Japan, it supports the 335 MW Kurobe No. 4 Hydropower Plant and is owned by Kansai Electric Power Company. It was constructed between 1956 and 1963 at a cost of ¥51.3 billion yen. The project was a difficult engineering feat for the rapidly growing post–World War II Japan, and claimed the lives of 171 people.
Shi Yong is a fictional character in Water Margin, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Nicknamed "Stone General", he ranks 99th among the 108 Stars of Destiny and 63rd among the 72 Earthly Fiends.
Panshet Dam, also called Tanajisagar Dam, is a dam on the Ambi river, a tributary of the Mutha River, about 50 km (31 mi) southwest of the city of Pune in western India.The dam was constructed in late 1950s for irrigation and, along with three other dams nearby, Varasgaon, Temghar and Khadakwasla, it supplies drinking water to Pune.
The Kuma River is a river in Kumamoto Prefecture, central Western part of Kyūshū, Japan. It is sometimes referred as Kumagawa River. It is the longest river in Kyushu, with the length of 115 km long and has a drainage area of 1,880 km2 (730 sq mi). The tidal flat of the Kuma River estuary is approximately 1000 hectares.
Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project is a 1,450 MW run-of-the-river hydropower connected to the Indus River about 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Attock in Punjab and east of Swabi and Haripur districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Construction of the project that began in 1995 consists of 5 generators each with a maximum power generation capacity of 290MW. Inauguration of the plant on 19 August 2003 by President General Pervez Musharraf also saw the commissioning of the first 2 of the 5 generators i.e. Unit 1 and Unit 2. The last generator was commissioned on 6 April 2004 and the project was completed by that December. It cost US$2.1 billion with funding from Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, European Investment Bank and Islamic Development Bank.
Malampuzha Dam is the largest dam and reservoirs in Kerala, located near Palakkad, in the state of Kerala in South India, built post independence by the then Madras state. Situated in the scenic hills of the Western Ghats in the background it is a combination of a masonry dam with a length of 1,849 metres and an earthen dam with a length of 220 metres making it the longest dam in the state. The dam is 355 feet high and crosses the Malampuzha River, a tributary of Bharathappuzha, Kerala's second longest river. There is a network of two canal systems that serve the dam's reservoir of 42,090 hectares.
Lake Inawashiro is the fourth-largest lake in Japan, located in central Fukushima Prefecture, south of Mount Bandai. It is also known as the 'Heavenly Mirror Lake'. The lake is located within the borders of Bandai-Asahi National Park. It is a surface area of 104 square kilometres (40 sq mi), circumference of 63 kilometres (39 mi), depth of 94 metres (308 ft) and is located at an altitude of 514 metres (1,686 ft). In winter swans migrate to the beaches of the lake and stay there until spring.
Cardinia Reservoir is an Australian man-made water supply dammed reservoir. The 287,000 ML water store is located in Emerald–Clematis–Dewhurst in south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. Construction started in May 1970 and was completed in 1973 at a cost of more than A$11.4 million. The dam that creates the impoundment is called the Cardinia Dam.
The Cheboksary Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Volga river, the latest of the Volga-Kama Cascade of dams.
The Atkinson Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam across the Buaraba Creek and a naturally forming lagoon, which is located near Lowood in the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The main purpose of the dam is for irrigation of farming land in the lower Lockyer Valley. The resultant reservoir is called Lake Atkinson.
The Shō River has its source in Mount Eboshi in the Shōkawa-chō area of Takayama, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. After flowing for 115 km (71 mi) through the northern part of Gifu Prefecture and the western part of Toyama Prefecture, it empties into Toyama Bay.
Uwada Dam is a gravity dam on the Tadami River 500 m (1,640 ft) downstream of Kaneyama in the Fukushima Prefecture of Japan. It was constructed between 1952 and 1954 for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation. It supplies a 63.9 MW power station with water.
The Katsurazawa Dam is a dam in Hokkaidō, Japan. It was Hokkaido's first multipurpose dam and the post-war Ishikari River watershed development plan's starting point. The dam is a 63.6m in height Concrete Gravity dam, immediately downstream from the Shinkatsurazawa Dam. The artificial lake resulting from the construction of the Katsurazawa Dam is known as the Katsurazawa Lake.
The Western Cape Water Supply System (WCWSS) is a complex water supply system in the Western Cape region of South Africa, comprising an inter-linked system of six main dams, pipelines, tunnels and distribution networks, and a number of minor dams, some owned and operated by the Department of Water and Sanitation and some by the City of Cape Town.
Okuno Dam is a multi-purpose dam on the Itō-Ōkawa River, located in Itō, Shizuoka, Japan.
Takizawa dam is a gravity dam located in Saitama prefecture in Japan. The dam serves for multipurpose including flood control, water supply and to generate hydro-electricity. The catchment area of the dam is 108.6 km2. The dam impounds about 145 ha of land when full and can store 63 million cubic meters of water. The construction of the dam was started on 1969 and completed in 2007.
Kijiyama Dam is a hollow gravity dam located in Yamagata Prefecture in Japan. The dam is used for power production. The catchment area of the dam is 63 km2. The dam impounds about 60 ha of land when full and can store 8200 thousand cubic meters of water. The construction of the dam was started on 1957 and completed in 1960.
