The is a multi-purpose dam on the main stream Sagami River in

Sagamihara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 723,470, with 334,812 households, and a population density of 1,220 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Sagamihara is the third-most-populous city ...

, Kanagawa Prefecture on the island of

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

History

The potential of the Sagami River valley for hydroelectric power development began to be developed in the 1930s, with the growth of population in the Shonan region, and the expansion of industry and electrical consumption in the Yokohama- Kanagawa industrial belt. Plans for a dam on the Sagami River were submitted to the Home Ministry in 1935, but approval was delayed in favor of other projects. Instead, the Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly passed the necessary regulations and secured a special budget to begin work in 1938. After actual construction work did not begin immediately, due to the strong opposition of the 196 families who needed to be relocated from the area to be flooded by the dam. However, the wartime demands for power and industrial water by the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal and by the Keihin Industrial complex became critical, and General Sadao Araki ordered troops into the area to force compliance with the relocation. Work on the Sagami Dam began in 1941 by the Kumagai Gumi construction company; however, the advent of World War II delayed completion until 1947.

Design

The Sagami Dam a hollow-core concrete

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation to oppose the horizontal pressure of water pushing against it. ...

. It was designed to provide flood control, and industrial and drinking water to the cities of Yokohama, Kawasaki, Yokosuka and the Shōnan area. The associated Sagami Hydroelectric Power Plant has a rated capacity of 31,000 KW of power . The reservoir created by the dam, Lake Sagami is also a major recreational location for Kanagawa Prefecture.

References

*Japan Commission on Large Dams. ''Dams in Japan:Past, Present and Future''. CRC Press (2009). *Takeuchi, Kuniyoshi. ''Sustainable Reservoir Development and Management''. IAHS Press (November 1998).

External links

photo page
{{Dams in Kanagawa Prefecture Gravity dams Dams in Kanagawa Prefecture Hydroelectric power stations in Japan Dams completed in 1947

History

Design

See also

References

External links