Owen Falls Dam
| Owen Falls Dam | |||||||||
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| Coordinates | 0 ° 26 '36 " N , 33 ° 11' 6" E | ||||||||
| Data on the structure | |||||||||
| Construction time: | 1951-1954 | ||||||||
| Height of the barrier structure : | 31 m | ||||||||
| Crown length: | 831 m | ||||||||
| Data on the reservoir | |||||||||
| Altitude (at congestion destination ) | 1,134 m | ||||||||
| Water surface | 68,870 km² | ||||||||
| Storage space | 204,800 million m³ | ||||||||
| Total storage space : | 2,760 km³ | ||||||||
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The Owen-Falls-Dam (English Owen-Falls-Dam ; also called Nalubaale-Dam ) is a dam wall (not a dam ), which next to the Nalubaale Power Station north of Lake Victoria on the Victoria Nile near Jinja ( Uganda , Africa ) stands.
Geographical location
The Owen Falls Dam is located about 3.2 km below the former natural outflow of the Nile from Lake Victoria near Jinja . As a result of its construction, the Owen and Ripon Falls waterfalls sank into the water of the lake, which was transformed from a natural lake into a reservoir through this artificial enlargement .
The sea
The Lake Victoria with its natural total volume of 2,760,000 million cubic meters one of the largest lakes of the world. The construction of the Owen Falls Dam created a reservoir "on the lake" with a volume of around 204,800 million m³ and an additional height of around three meters.
Dam and power plant (s)
technology
With the help of the Owen Falls Dam, which was built as a 831 m long and 31 m high gravity dam from 1951 to 1954 at the time of the British colonial administration below the Owen Falls, it is possible to control the water outflow from Lake Victoria into the Nile Valley regulate, which also regulates the amount of water that flows to the lakes further north, for example Lake Kyoga . In addition, the dam can minimize the runoff of the excess water from Lake Victoria resulting from years of precipitation in such a way that the deficit in the years with little precipitation can be compensated if necessary. The power station (Owen Falls Power Station, renamed the Nalubaale Power Station after the traditional name of Lake Victoria in 2000) at the dam generates electricity (60 megawatts ) for Uganda and western Kenya .
From 1993 to 1999 another power plant with a capacity of 200 megawatts , the Kiira Power Station (after the traditional name for the Nile, formerly known as the Nile), was built around one kilometer further north or downstream from the Owen Falls Dam or the Nalubaale Power Station Owen Falls Extension), to which the water is directed via a canal flowing around the dam to the east. By the official inauguration in 2003, three out of five machine sets with 40 megawatts each had been installed.
Naming
The British colonial authorities paid tribute to the officer and jockey Roddy Owen , founder of Fort Portal and winner of the Grand National Horse Race in Aintree in 1891 , by naming Owen-Falls-Dam .
Effects on ecology
The effects of the Owen Falls Dam on the ecology of the lake are coming under increasing criticism from environmental protection organizations. After the second power station went into operation in 2006, the lake's water level reached a low, the last time it was measured 80 years ago (before the Owen Falls Dam was built). The Global Nature Fund declared Lake Victoria "Endangered Lake of the Year 2005".
Web links
- "If the Victoria looking redundant?" , Telepolis , February 12, 2006