Opening date 19 February 1981 Height 40 m Catchment area 68,000 km² Construction began 1970 | Status Operational Type of dam Rock-fill dam Opened 1979 | |
Purpose Flood control and power Similar Kihansi Dam, Nyumba ya Mungu Dam, Ruaha National Park, Loleza Mountain, Msasani | ||
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.
Contents
Map of Mtera Hydroelectric dam, Tanzania
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. In addition, the waters are rich in fish. In the early 1990s were a year about 5000 tonnes of fish caught in the lake.