A dam is a structure or a barrier built across a river or a stream to restrict the water flow. Dams prevent floods. They also provide water for various activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability.
Importance of Dams:
Dams are considered essential as:
- They provide water for domestic, industrial, and irrigation purposes.
- Dams often also provide hydroelectric power production and river navigation.
- Dams and their reservoirs provide various recreational activities such as fishing and boating. They help people by lessening or preventing floods.
Everything has some pros and cons. Dams have some negative impacts too.
- They worsen the impact of climate change.
- Dams release greenhouse gases, destroy carbon sinks in wetlands and oceans, deprive ecosystems of nutrients, destroy habitats, increase sea levels, wastewater and displace poor communities.
- They tend to need high construction costs and too much time for their construction.
- They also require regular adjustments.
By leaving the pros and cons aside, dams can be impressive too. In this article, you will get to know about the top 10 most astonishing and fascinating Dams from all over the world. So, let’s begin.
Table of Contents
Tehri Dam: Uttarakhand, India
Tehri Dam, the tallest dam in India, is located on the Bhagirathi River in Uttarakhand. It ranks eighth on the list of tallest dams in the world. It is one of the most picturesque Dams in the country. It has a staggering height of 261 meters. One can enjoy numerous water sport activities, for instance, scooter riding, boating, rafting, and many more. This dam is capable of producing around 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity.
Three Gorges Dam: Hubei, China
Three Gorges Dam has taken the title of both the world’s largest power station and the world’s largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation. It generates an average of 95±20 TWh of electricity annually, depending on the quantity of precipitation in the river basin in that particular year. As well as producing electricity, the dam enhances the Yangtze River’s shipping capacity too.
The Inguri/Enguri Dam: Jvari, Georgia
The Inguri Dam is the world’s highest arch dam located on the Inguri River in western Georgia. It has a tremendous height of 272 meters. The five-unit power plant associated with this dam has a planned power capacity of around 1,300 megawatts.
Mooserboden Dam: Austria
The Mooserboden dam, located in Austria, is very photogenic. It is one of the most attractive and fascinated places to be visited. It is 107 meters high and 500 meters long. This dam had built between 1947 and 1955, and it serves to generate electricity.
Contra Dam (or Verzasca): Ticino, Switzerland
The Contra Dam, commonly known as the Verzasca Dam and the Locarno Dam, is an arch dam on the Verzasca River in the Val Verzasca of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the fourth largest dam in Switzerland. This dam is capable of generating around 105 MW of hydroelectric power. It is especially famous for Golden Eye Bond and Dhoom 3 movies.
Ataturk Dam: Turkey
The Atatürk Dam has located on the Euphrates River in Bozova, south-east Turkey. This dam had built to supply water for irrigation and power generation. It is one of the largest Dams in the country and the sixth-largest in the world, with an astonishing height of 169 meters.
Hoover Dam: Nevada, USA
Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It is 220 meters high and 379 meters long. This dam serves to generate electricity.
Jinping-I Dam: Sichuan, China
Jinping-I Dam is the world’s tallest dam with a staggering height of 305 meters. It is on the Jinping Bend of the Yalong River in Liangshan, Sichuan, China. Its power station has a 3,600 MW capacity to produce between 16 and 18 TWh annually.
Hirakud Dam: Odisha, India
Hirakud Dam had built across the Mahanadi River, about 15 kilometers from Sambalpur in Odisha, India. It is one of the first major multipurpose river valley projects started after India’s independence. It has an overall length of 4.8 km that makes it the longest dam in the world.
Parker Dam: San Bernardino County, California, La Paz County, Arizona
Parker Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam that crosses the Colorado River. It is 98 meters high, and out of this, 72 meters is below the riverbed, making it the deepest dam in the world. The dam’s primary functions are to create a reservoir and to generate hydroelectric power.
Dams are an integral part of modern society. They provide power to millions, create new land for development, and help store water in reservoirs.