Tarbela Dam (Urdu/Pashto: ‫ )ت ربیال بند‬is an earth-filled dam along the Indus

TOP 10 DAMS IN ASIA River in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Located in

[2]
the Swabi and Haripur Districts of the province,  the dam is about 30 km
1. TARBELA DAM (20 mi) from the city of Swabi, 105 km (65 mi) northwest of Islamabad, and
125 km (80 mi) east of Peshawar. It is the largest earth-filled dam in the
world, and also the largest dam by structural volume.

The dam was completed in 1976 and was designed to store water from the
Indus River for irrigation, flood control, and the generation of hydroelectric
power.[6] The dam is 143 metres (470 ft) high above the riverbed. The dam’s
reservoir, Tarbela Lake, has a surface area of approximately 250 square
kilometres (97 sq mi).

Tarbela Dam’s primary use is electricity generation. The installed capacity of

the 4,888 MW Tarbela hydroelectric power stations will increase to 6,298
MW after completion of the planned fifth extension financed by Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank.
2. HIRAKUD DAM Hirakud Dam is built across the Mahanadi River, about 15 kilometres
(9.3 mi) from Sambalpur in the state of Odisha in India. Behind the dam
extends a lake, Hirakud Reservoir, 55 km (34 mi) long. It is one of the first
major multipurpose river valley projects started after India's independence. It
is India’s largest dam. It is also on fourth largest dam in the world.

Before the devastating floods of 1936, Sir M. Visveswararya proposed a

detailed investigation for storage reservoirs in the Mahanadi basin to tackle
the problem of floods in the Mahanadi delta. In 1945, under the chairmanship
of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the Member of Labour, it was decided to invest in the
potential benefits of regulating the Mahanadi for multi-purpose use. The
Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission took up the work.
[2]
 On 15 March 1946, Sir Hawthorne Lewis, the Governor of Odisha, laid the
foundation stone of the Hirakud Dam. A project report was submitted to the
government in June 1947. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the first batch of
concrete on 12 April 1948.

In 1952, Mazumdar Committee was appointed by the government to oversee

the soundness and technical feasibility of the project. The committee has
envisaged costs of ₹92.80 crore for the project and that the construction of the
main dam would be complete by June 1955. It also said that by 1954–55 a
total of 1,347,000 acres (545,000 ha) would be irrigated and that 48 GW of
electric power would be generated.[3] However, the dam was completed in
1953 and was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 13
January 1957. The total cost of the project was ₹1,000.2 million (equivalent
to ₹75 billion or US$1.1 billion in 2018) in 1957. Power generation along
with agricultural irrigation started in 1956, achieving full potential in 1966.
3. BHAKRA NANGAL DAM Bhakra Dam  is a concrete gravity dam  on the  Sutlej
River in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. The dam forms
the Gobind Sagar reservoir.

The dam, located at a gorge near the (now submerged) upstream Bhakra
village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh of height 226 m.[1] The length
of the dam (measured from the road above it) is 518.25 m and the width is
9.1 m. Its reservoir known as "Gobind Sagar" stores up to 9.34 billion cubic
metres of water. The 90 km long reservoir created by the Bhakra Dam is
spread over an area of 168.35 km2. In terms of quantity of water, it is the
third largest reservoir in India, the first being Indira Sagar dam in Madhya
Pradesh with capacity of 12.22 billion cu m and second Nagarjunasagar Dam.

Described as "New Temple of Resurgent India" by Jawaharlal Nehru,[2] the

first prime minister of India, the dam attracts tourists from all over India.
Bhakra dam is 15 km from Nangal city and 20 km from Naina Devi town.

Nangal Dam is another dam in Punjab downstream of Bhakra Dam.

However, sometimes both the dams together are called Bhakra-Nangal
Dam though they are two separate dams.it is one of the most significant dams.
4. ATATURK DAM The Atatürk Dam (Turkish: Atatürk Barajı), originally the Karababa Dam,
is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core[1] on the Euphrates River on the
border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province in the Southeastern
Anatolia Region of Turkey. Built both to generate electricity and to irrigate
the plains in the region, it was renamed in honour of Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of the Turkish Republic. The construction
began in 1983 and was completed in 1990. The dam and the hydroelectric
power plant, which went into service after the upfilling of the reservoir was
completed in 1992, are operated by the State Hydraulic Works (DSİ).
The reservoir created behind the dam, called Lake Atatürk
Dam (Turkish: Atatürk Baraj Gölü), is the third largest in Turkey.

The dam is situated 23 km (14 mi) northwest of Bozova, Şanlıurfa Province,

on state road D-875 from Bozova to Adıyaman. Centerpiece of the 22 dams
on the Euphrates and the Tigris, which comprise the integrated, multi-
sector, Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish: Güney Doğu Anadolu Projesi,
known as GAP), it is one of the world's largest dams. The Atatürk Dam, one
of the five operational dams on the Euphrates as of 2008, was preceded
by Keban and Karakaya dams upstream and followed by Birecik and
the Karkamış dams downstream. Two more dams on the river have been
under construction.

The dam embankment is 169 m high (554 ft) and 1,820 m long (5,970 ft). The
hydroelectric power plant (HEPP) has a total installed power capacity of
2,400 MW and generates 8,900 GW·h electricity annually.[2] The total cost of
the dam project was about US$1,250,000,000.

The dam was depicted on the reverse of the Turkish one-million-

lira banknotes of 1995–2005[4] and of the 1 new lira banknote of 2005–2009.
5. TEHRI DAM The Tehri Dam is the highest dam in India and one of the highest in the
world. It is a multi-purpose rock and earth-fill embankment dam on
the Bhagirathi River near Tehri in Uttarakhand, India. It is the primary dam of
the THDC India Ltd. and the Tehri hydroelectric complex. Phase 1 was
completed in 2006. The Tehri Dam withholds a reservoir
for irrigation, municipal water supply and the generation of 1,000 megawatts
(1,300,000 hp) of hydroelectricity. The dam's 1,000 MW variable-
speed pumped-storage scheme is currently under construction with expected
commissioning in May 2018.

Tehri Dam is a 260.5 m (855 ft) high rock and earth-fill embankment dam. Its
length is 575 m (1,886 ft), crest width 20 m (66 ft), and base width 1,128 m
(3,701 ft). The dam creates a reservoir of 4.0 cubic kilometres
(3,200,000 acre⋅ft) with a surface area of 52 km2 (20 sq mi). The installed
hydrocapacity is 1,000 MW along with an additional 1,000 MW of pumped
storage hydroelectricity. The lower reservoir for the pumped-storage plant is
created by the Koteshwar Dam downstream.

The Tehri Dam and the Tehri Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Power Plant are
part of the Tehri Hydropower Complex which also includes the
400 MW Koteshwar Dam.[3] Power is distributed to Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh,
Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh . The complex will afford irrigation to an
area of 270,000 hectares (670,000 acres), irrigation stabilization to an area of
600,000 hectares (1,500,000 acres), and a supply of 270 million imperial
gallons (1.2×106 m3) of drinking water per day to the industrialized areas
of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
6. MANGALA DAM The Mangla Dam (Urdu: ‫ )منگال بند‬is a multipurpose dam located on
the Jhelum River in the Mirpur District of Azad Kashmir in Pakistan. It is the
seventh largest dam in the world. The dam got its name from the village
of Mangla. Major Nasrullah Khan of the Pakistan Army revealed for the first
time in 2003, that the project was designed and supervised by Binnie &
Partners of London (the team led by partner Geoffrey Binnie),[2] and it was
built by Mangla Dam Contractors, a consortium of 8 U.S. construction firms,
sponsored by Guy F. Atkinson Company of South San Francisco.

As part of the Indus Waters Treaty signed in 1960, India gained rights to the

waters of the Ravi, Sutlej and Beas rivers, while Pakistan, in addition to
waters of the above three rivers within Pakistan and some monetary
compensation, received the rights to develop
the Jhelum, Chenab and Indus river basins. Until 1967, the entire irrigation
system of Pakistan was fully dependent on unregulated flows of the Indus and
its major tributaries. The agricultural yield was very low for a number of
reasons, the most important being a lack of water during critical growing
periods. This problem stemmed from the seasonal variations in the river flow
due to monsoons and the absence of storage reservoirs to conserve the vast
amounts of surplus water during those periods of high river discharge.

The Mangla Dam was the first of the two dams constructed to reduce this
shortcoming and strengthen the irrigation system of the country as part of
the Indus Basin Project, the other being Tarbela Dam on River Indus.
7. NUREK DAM The Nurek Dam (Tajik: Нерӯгоҳи обии Норак, Nerūgohi obii Norak, Tajik
for Nurek Hydro-electric Station) is an earth-fill embankment dam on
the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan. Its primary purpose is hydroelectric power
generation and its power station has an installed capacity of 3,015 MW.
Construction of the dam began in 1961 and the power station's first generator
was commissioned in 1972. The last generator was commissioned in 1979 and
the entire project was completed in 1980 when Tajikistan was still
a republic within the Soviet Union, becoming the tallest dam in the world at
the time. At 300 m (984 ft),[1][2][3] it is currently the second tallest man-made
dam in the world, after being surpassed by Jinping-I Dam in 2013. The Rogun
Dam, also along the Vakhsh in Tajikistan, may exceed it in size when
completed.

The Nurek Dam was constructed by the Soviet Union between the years 1961
and 1980. It is uniquely constructed, with a central core of cement forming an
impermeable barrier within a 300 m (980 ft)-high rock and earth fill
construction.[1][2][3] The volume of the mound is 54 million m3. The dam
includes nine hydroelectric generating units, the first commissioned in 1972
and the last in 1979.[2] An estimated 5,000 people were resettled from the
dam's flooding area.[4]

The dam is located in a deep gorge along the Vakhsh River in western
Tajikistan, about 75 km (47 mi) east of the nation's capital of Dushanbe. A
town near the dam, also called Nurek, houses engineers and other workers
employed at the dam's power plant.
8. SAN ROQUE DAM The San Roque Dam, operated under San Roque Multipurpose Project
(SRMP) is a 200-meter-tall, 1.2 kilometer long embankment dam on the Agno
River. It is the largest dam in the Philippines and sixteenth largest in the world
(see List of largest dams in the world). It spans the municipalities of San
Manuel and San Nicolas, Pangasinan, nearly 200 km north of Metro Manila.

The dam impounds a reservoir with a surface area of about 12.8 square

kilometers extending North into the municipality of Itogon, Benguet. A gated
spillway protects the dam from overtopping. Each wet season, the run-off is
stored for later release via water turbines to generate power and irrigate crops.

San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC) financed and constructed the SRMP
under a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the National Power
Corporation (NPC) on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. SRPC
substantially completed the SRMP at midnight, February 14, 2003, at which
time its peaking power, irrigation, flood control and enhanced water quality
benefits became available to the surrounding regions, which include the
Northwest Luzon Economic Growth Quadrangle. In reality, all but its power
benefits have been available since mid-2002 when the dam and spillway were
completed.

Ownership of the dam and spillway was transferred to NPC upon construction
completion, as it contributed funds for the non-power components on behalf
of several agencies. SRPC will own and operate the power generating
facilities for 25 years, after which their ownership transfers to NPC.
9. THREE GORGES DAM The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze
River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling
District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam has been
the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW)
since 2012. In 2018, the dam generated 101.6 terawatt-hours (TWh), breaking
its previous record, but was still slightly lower than the Itaipú Dam, which had
set the world record in 2016 after producing 103.1 TWh.

The dam body was completed in 2006. The power plant of the dam project
was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012, when the last of the
main water turbines in the underground plant began production. Each main
water turbine has a capacity of 700 MW. Coupling the dam's 32 main turbines
with two smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total
electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW. The last major
component of the project, the ship lift, was complete in December 2015.

As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze

River's shipping capacity. By providing flood storage space, the dam reduces
the potential for floods downstream which could possibly affect millions.
China regards the project as monumental as well as a success socially and
economically, with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines, and a move
toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions.  However, the dam
flooded archaeological and cultural sites, displaced some 1.3 million people,
and had caused significant ecological changes including an increased risk
of landslides. The dam has been controversial both domestically and abroad.
10. SARDAR SAROVAR DAM The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a gravity dam on the Narmada
river near Navagam, Gujarat in India. Four Indian states, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, receive water and electricity supplied
from the dam. The foundation stone of the project was laid out by Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 5 April 1961. The project took form in 1979 as
part of a development scheme funded by the World Bank through
their International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, to increase
irrigation and produce hydroelectricity, using a loan of US$200 million.[3] The
construction for dam begun in 1987, but the project was stalled by
the Supreme Court of India in 1995 in the backdrop of Narmada Bachao
Andolan over concerns of displacement of people. In 2000–01 the project was
revived but with a lower height of 110.64 metres under directions from SC,
which was later increased in 2006 to 121.92 meters and 138.98 meters in
2017.[4] The water level in the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Kevadia in Narmada
district reached its highest capacity at 138.68 metres on 15 September 2019.[5]
[6]

One of the 30 dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is
the largest structure to be built. It is one of the largest dams in the world.[7][8] It
is a part of the Narmada Valley Project, a large hydraulic engineering project
involving the construction of a series of
large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada river.
Following a number of controversial cases before the Supreme Court of
India (1999, 2000, 2003), by 2014 the Narmada Control Authority had
approved a series of changes in the final height – and the associated
displacement caused by the increased reservoir, from the original 80 m
(260 ft) to a final 163 m (535 ft) from foundation.[9][10] The project will irrigate
more than 18,000 km2 (6,900 sq mi), most of it in drought prone areas
of Kutch and Saurashtra.