The Chogray Reservoir (russian: Чограйское водохранилище, ''Chograyskoye vodokhranilishche'') is an artificial reservoir on the
East Manych River on the border of
Stavropol Krai
Stavropol Krai (russian: Ставропо́льский край, r=Stavropolsky kray, p=stəvrɐˈpolʲskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a Krais of Russia, krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the North ...
and
Kalmykia
he official languages of the Republic of Kalmykia are the Kalmyk and Russian languages./ref>
, official_lang_list= Kalmyk
, official_lang_ref=Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 17: he official languages of the ...
in southern Russia.
The reservoir, 49 km long, was constructed in 1969-1973, primarily to satisfy the demands of local irrigated farming.
Its area is 185 square km, volume 0.7 cubic km. Besides capturing water naturally brought by the tributaries of the East Manych River, the reservoir receives water from the
Terek River
The Terek (; , Tiyrk; , Tərč; , ; , ; , ''Terk''; , ; , ) is a major river in the Northern Caucasus. It originates in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia (country), Georgia and flows through North Caucasus region of Russia into the Casp ...
and the
Kuma River over the
Kuma-Manych Canal, which was completed a few years before the reservoir.
Later on, another irrigation canal – the
Chernyye Zemli Main Canal (Черноземельский магистральный канал, ''Chernozemelsky magistralny kanal'') was built, taking water from the Chogray Reservoir further east and north, into Kalmykia.
In 2008, after almost 40 years of operation, the reservoir was reported as in dire need of maintenance, as were many other reservoirs of its age in the area. Under certain conditions the waters are polluted by blooms of toxic cyanobacteria (blue-gree algae).
As the East Manych (and, thus, the Chogray Reservoir) is not connected in a navigable way with any other body of water (although that may change if the
Eurasia Canal
The Eurasia Canal (russian: Канал "Евразия", ''Kanal "Evraziya"'') is a proposed 700-kilometre-long (430 mi) canal connecting the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea along the Kuma-Manych Depression. Currently, a chain of lakes and res ...
is constructed), delivering a boat, or any other large floating installation to the Chogray Reservoir would be a non-trivial task. Such an operation was undertaken in 1976, when two large floating pumping units, weighing 320 and 280 metric tons, respectively, had to be delivered to the reservoir for use by the local irrigators. They were taken by boat from the
Don
Don, don or DON and variants may refer to:
Places
*County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON
*Don (river), a river in European Russia
*Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name
*Don, Benin, a town in Benin
*Don, Dang, a vill ...
up the
West Manych River waterway to
Lake Manych-Gudilo
Lake Manych-Gudilo (russian: Ма́ныч-Гуди́ло) is a large saltwater reservoir lake in Kalmykia, Russia. Part of the lake lies also in Rostov Oblast and Stavropol Krai. It has an area of about 344 km² and average depth of only ...
– the end of the existing navigable waterway, – from where they were transported 85 km overland using special heavy trailers. Thirty years later, that story was still remembered locally.
Плыли в степи корабли
("Boats were sailing through the steppe"), ''Stavropolskaya Pravda'', 28.12.2006.
References
{{Reflist
Reservoirs in Russia
Reservoirs in Kalmykia
Reservoirs in Stavropol Krai