The system included 16 reservoirs, dams and various channels for collecting water and storing it. īy the mid-late third millennium BC, an intricate water-management system in Dholavira in modern-day India was built. The lake called Mer-wer or Lake Moeris covered 1,700 km 2 (660 sq mi) and is known today as Birket Qarun. Two dams called Ha-Uar running east-west were built to retain water during the annual flood and then release it to surrounding lands. During the Twelfth Dynasty in the 19th century BC, the Pharaohs Senosert III, Amenemhat III, and Amenemhat IV dug a canal 16 km (9.9 mi) long linking the Fayum Depression to the Nile in Middle Egypt. The structure was built around 2800 or 2600 BC as a diversion dam for flood control, but was destroyed by heavy rain during construction or shortly afterwards. The Ancient Egyptian Sadd-el-Kafara Dam at Wadi Al-Garawi, about 25 km (16 mi) south of Cairo, was 102 m (335 ft) long at its base and 87 m (285 ft) wide. This gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high (30 ft) and 1 m-wide (3.3 ft) stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide (160 ft) earthen rampart. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of the capital Amman. Dams were used to control water levels, for Mesopotamia's weather affected the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. By 1997, there were an estimated 800,000 dams worldwide, with some 40,000 of them over 15 meters high.Įarly dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. The Hoover Dam, a massive concrete arch-gravity dam, was built between 19 on the Colorado River.
The era of large dams began with the construction of the Aswan Low Dam in Egypt in 1902. In the 19th century, large-scale arch dams were constructed around the British Empire, marking advances in dam engineering techniques. In Iran, bridge dams were used for hydropower and water-raising mechanisms.ĭuring the Middle Ages, dams were built in the Netherlands to regulate water levels and prevent sea intrusion. They introduced reservoir dams, arch-gravity dams, arch dams, buttress dams, and multiple arch buttress dams. Roman engineers built dams with advanced techniques and materials, such as hydraulic mortar and Roman concrete, which allowed for larger structures. The Kallanai Dam in South India, built in the 2nd century AD, is one of the oldest water regulating structures still in use. The Great Dam of Marib in Yemen, built between 17 BC, was an engineering wonder, and Eflatun Pinar, a Hittite dam and spring temple in Turkey, dates to the 15th and 13th centuries BC. In modern-day India, Dholavira had an intricate water-management system with 16 reservoirs and dams. Egyptians also built dams, such as Sadd-el-Kafara Dam for flood control. The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, dating to 3,000 BC. The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam.Īncient dams were built in Mesopotamia and the Middle East for water control. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. A dam can also be used to collect or store water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. The Edersee Dam in Hesse, Germany Small dam near Groningen, NetherlandsĪ dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface or underground streams
0 kommentar(er)
