The King Talal Dam is a large dam in the hills of northern

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, across the

Zarqa River The Zarqa River ( ar, نهر الزرقاء, ''Nahr az-Zarqāʾ'', lit. "the River of the Blue ity) or Jabbok River (Hebrew: נַחַל יַבּוֹק ''Nahal Yabōq'') is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River, after the Yarmo ...

. The dam was started in 1971, with the original construction being completed in 1978 at a height of 92.5 meters. The original dam cost $46 million and was partially funded by a $16.8 million loan from the

Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) is a Kuwait-based pan-Arab development finance institution. All member-states of the Arab League are members of the AFESD. As of 2003, it held around US$7.3 billion in assets. The AFESD ...

and a $5.6 million grant from the Abu Dhabi Fund. Energoprojekt of Yugoslavia was the consultant and Planum of Yugoslavia was the contractor. In 1984, to meet the country's increased water demands, work to raise the dam to a height of 106 meters was begun, a project that was completed in 1988. The dam is named after king

Talal of Jordan Talal bin Abdullah ( ar, طلال بن عبد الله, ; 26 February 1909 – 7 July 1972) was King of Jordan from the assassination of his father, King Abdullah I, on 20 July 1951 until his forced abdication on 11 August 1952. As a member of ...

. The main purpose of the dam is to store winter rains and treated wastewater from Amman and

Zarqa Zarqa ( ar, الزرقاء) is the capital of Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Its name means "the blue (city)". It had a population of 635,160 inhabitants in 2015, and is the most populous city in Jordan after Amman. Geography Zarqa is located in t ...

treated in the As Samra plant for irrigation in the

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

. The dam irrigates about 17,000 hectares and supports the livelihood of 120,000 people.

References

External links

* Geography of Jordan Dams in Jordan Dams completed in 1977 Hydroelectric power stations in Jordan Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Jordan River basin {{Asia-dam-stub