Toker Dam is the fourth largest dam in

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. Construction was begun in 1997 and completed in 2001, despite having to be halted for a few months in 1998 when Ethiopia and Eritrea were at war. Its primary designer was Natural Resources Consulting Engineers from Colorado, USA. Furthermore, NRCE Inc., was the primary consultant on the project. The construction contractor was Keagnam of South Korea. The project was designed to provide modern and effective service to the City of

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

and neighboring villages. It further provides safe drinking water for the local population. The dam is a roller compacted concrete dam, and was one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa at the time it was built.

The dam

The dam is 73 metres tall and is composed of of concrete. The upstream face is vertical and the downstream face is sloping, with a central spillway. The reservoir can hold of water; there is a pumping station at its toe, leading to a water filtration plant. This has a capacity of water per day which is delivered to the city of Asmara's distribution system. During construction, the

cofferdam A cofferdam is an enclosure built within a body of water to allow the enclosed area to be pumped out. This pumping creates a dry working environment so that the work can be carried out safely. Cofferdams are commonly used for construction or re ...

was overtopped for about four days during a large flood, when the dam was about one third of its final height. The flood was in excess of the once in a hundred years flood expectation. The contractors had little warning but managed to get most of their equipment away from the critical area before the event struck. The conventional and

roller-compacted concrete Roller-compacted concrete (RCC) or rolled concrete (rollcrete) is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Po ...

in the main dam were largely undamaged and construction work was resumed within a fortnight.

References

{{coord missing, Eritrea Dams in Eritrea Dams completed in 1997