Cheboksary Dam
Cheboksary Dam | |
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GWh |
The Cheboksary Dam (
Technical data
Construction started in the
Reservoir level problem
The station began to work in 1981 with normal water level lowered to 63 m above sea level. Most of flooded land belonged to Mari El Republic. Flooded land included valuable meadows, several hundred acres ( hectares ) of oak forest that was not duly felled.
Rising normal water level to the design value of 68 m was hindered first by incomplete reservoir banks protection, then being opposed by Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Mari El Republic. Now the station is operating at 63 m water level, with an actual installed power of 820 MW and an average annual production of 2100 GWh. Also lowered level poses difficulties to navigation on the Volga river between Nizhny Novgorod and Gorodets, with allowed draught down to 3 m, whereas it is 4 m on other parts of the Volga.[1] Water quality in reservoir degrades because shallow waters comprise 33% of its area instead of the designed 19%. The water level problem is still being discussed.
Further water level rise will cause flood of vast areas of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Mari El, including most part of Nizhny Novgorod between the Oka and the Volga rivers.
See also
References
- ^ Прогноз глубин по ЕГС (in Russian) Archived December 12, 2007, at the Wayback Machine