The Karkheh Dam ( fa, سد کرخه) is a large multi-purpose earthen

embankment dam An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...

built in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

on the

Karkheh River The Karkheh or Karkhen کرخه (perhaps the river known as the Gihon—one of the four rivers of Eden/Paradise to the Bible and as the Choaspes in ancient times; also called Eulæus; Hebrew: אולי Ulai) is a river in Khūzestān Province, I ...

in 2001 by the

Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

(IRGC). The dam is in the northwestern province of

Khūzestān Khuzestan Province (also spelled Xuzestan; fa, استان خوزستان ''Ostān-e Xūzestān'') is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and it covers ...

, the closest city being

Andimeshk Andimeshk ( fa, اندیمشک, also Romanized as Āndīmeshḵ) is a city and capital of Andimeshk County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. Andimeshk is located about north of Shush, on the main road and the rail line between Tehran and Ahvaz. The n ...

to the east. It is high and has a reservoir capacity of 5.9 billion cubic meters. The Karkheh Dam is designed to irrigate of land, produce 520 MW of hydro-electricity and prevent downstream floods. Mean annual electricity generation is approximately 700 GWh. Based on IWPCO records, dam's power plant generated total of 4,941 GWh electricity during 2002–2008. In 2014 the maximum water in the reservoir of the dam reached and it is estimated that this number will be even less in 2015.

Construction

In 1956, studies began on the Karkheh Dam by the American company Development and Resources Corporation, which was headed by David E. Lilienthal, the former Chairman of the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

(TVA). In 1990, the final studies and design were completed by Mahab Ghodss Consulting Engineers, directed by master engineer Mohammad Soleymani. The engineering division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) started construction on the Karkheh Dam in 1992 and the dam was complete in 2001. During construction, 120 contractual and over eight consultative companies worked on the dam; 5,000 workers constructed the dam and 40 were killed in the process.

References

External links

{{Dams and reservoirs in Iran Dams in Khuzestan Province Hydroelectric power stations in Iran Reservoirs in Iran Buildings and structures in Khuzestan Province Earth-filled dams Dams completed in 2001 Dams in the Tigris–Euphrates river system