Mtera Dam

Mtera Dam

Mtera Reservoir, 2012
Location in Tanzania
Official name Bwawa la Mtera  (Swahili)
Country Tanzania
Coordinates 7°08′10.3″S 35°59′12.6″E / 7.136194°S 35.986833°E / -7.136194; 35.986833Coordinates: 7°08′10.3″S 35°59′12.6″E / 7.136194°S 35.986833°E / -7.136194; 35.986833
Purpose Flood control and power
Status Operational
Construction began 1970
Opening date 19 February 1981
Owner(s) TANESCO
Dam and spillways
Type of dam Rock-fill dam
Impounds Great Ruaha River
Height 40 metres (130 ft)
Elevation at crest 701.5 metres (2,302 ft)
Reservoir
Catchment area 68,000 km2 (26,000 sq mi)
Commission date 1984
Turbines 2× 40 MW
Installed capacity 80 MW
Source: TANESCO[1]

Mtera Dam is a hydroelectric dam in Tanzania. The dam is located midway between Iringa and Dodoma on the border between the Iringa Region and the Dodoma Region. The travel time from Dodoma is about three hours on a gravel road.

Overview

Mtera Dam is the largest hydroelectric dam in Tanzania. It measures 660 square kilometres (250 sq mi) at full capacity. The lake is 56 kilometres (35 mi) long, and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) wide, and is feed by the Great Ruaha River and the Kisigo River. It was built from 1975 to 1979 for the purpose of regulating water level at the downstream at the Ruaha installed Kidatu Hydro-electric Dam. Its capacity is 80 megawatts (110,000 hp).

Ecology

The lake is considered one of the best places in Tanzania to observe birds, since there are at the one million dead trees in it and it has many shallow areas.[2] In addition, the waters are rich in fish. In the early 1990s were a year about 5000 tonnes of fish caught in the lake.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Mtera Dam". TANESCO. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  2. ↑ http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sites/index.html?action=SitHTMDetails.asp&sid=6992&m=0
  3. ↑ http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/v4110e/V4110E06.htm

Öhman, May-Britt, Taming Exotic Beauties: Swedish Hydro Power Constructions in Tanzania in the Era of Development Assistance, 1960s - 1990s, Stockholm, 2007, PhD Thesis, http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:12267

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