COIMBATORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

COIMBATORE-14

THE KARIBA DAM

NAME : THARUN S
REG NO : 2004095
DOMAIN : ECE
CLASS : SEC-2
BATCH : 2020-2024
MOBILE NO : 9500860364
MAIL : tharun30012003@gmail.com

THE KARIBA DAM

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Construction

3. Power generation

4. Location

5. Environmental impacts

6. Recent activity

Introduction :-
  The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of
the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

 The dam stands 128 metres (420 ft) tall and 579 metres (1,900 ft) long. The dam
forms Lake Kariba, which extends for 280 kilometres (170 mi) and holds 185
cubic kilometres (150,000,000 acre⋅ft) of water.

Construction :-
 The double curvature concrete arch dam was designed by Coyne et Bellier and
constructed between 1955 and 1959 by Impresit of Italy at a cost of $135,000,000
for the first stage with only the Kariba South power cavern.

 Final construction and the addition of the Kariba North Power cavern by Mitchell
Construction was not completed until 1977 due to largely political problems for a
total cost of $480,000,000.

 During construction, 86 men lost their lives.

Power generation :-

 The Kariba Dam supplies 1,626 megawatts (2,181,000 hp) of electricity to parts of
both Zambia (the Copperbelt) and Zimbabwe and generates 6,400 gigawatt-hours
(23,000 TJ) per annum.

 Each country has its own power station on the north and south bank of the dam
respectively. The south station belonging to Zimbabwe has been in operation since
1960 and had six generators of 111 megawatts (149,000 hp) capacity each for a
total of 666 megawatts (893,000 hp).

 On November 11, 2013 it was announced by Zimbabwe's Finance Minister,

Patrick Chinamasa that capacity at the Zimbabwean (South) Kariba hydropower
station would be increased by 300 megawatts. The cost of upgrading the facility
has been supported by a $319m loan from China.

 The deal is a clear example of Zimbabwe's "Look East" policy, which was
adopted after falling out with Western powers. Construction on the Kariba South
expansion began in mid-2014 and was initially expected to be complete in 2019.
  In March 2018, president Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned the completed
expansion of Kariba South Hydroelectric Power Station.

 The addition of two new 150 megawatts (200,000 hp) turbines, brings to at
capacity at this station to 1,050 of US$533 million. Work started in 2014, and was
completed in March 2018.

 The north station belonging to Zambia has been in operation since 1976, and has
four generators of 150 megawatts (200,000 hp) each for a total of 600 megawatts
(800,000 hp); work to expand this capacity by an additional 360 megawatts
(480,000 hp) to 960 megawatts (1,290,000 hp) was completed in December 2013.

 Two additional 180 MW generators were added.

Location :-
 The Kariba Dam project was planned by the government of the Federation of
Rhodesia and Nyasaland, or Central African Federation (CAF). The CAF was a
semi-independent state within the Commonwealth in southern Africa that existed
from 1953 to the end of 1963, comprising the former self-governing British
colony of Southern Rhodesia and the former British protectorates of Northern
Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

 Northern Rhodesia had decided earlier in 1953 (before the Federation was
founded) to build a dam within its territory, on the Kafue River, a major tributary
of the Zambezi. It would have been closer to Zambia's Copperbelt, which was in
need of more power.

 This would have been a cheaper and less grandiose project, with a smaller
environmental impact. Southern Rhodesia, the richest of the three, objected to a
Kafue dam and insisted that the dam be sited instead at Kariba.

 Also, the capacity of the Kafue dam was much lower than that at Kariba. Initially
the dam was managed and maintained by the Central African Power Corporation.

 The Kariba Dam is now owned and operated by the Zambezi River Authority,
which is jointly and equally owned by Zimbabwe and Zambia.
  Since Zambia's independence, three dams have been built on the Kafue River: the
Kafue Gorge Upper Dam, Kafue Gorge Lower Dam and the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam.

Environmental impacts :-
 Population displacement and resettlement The dam under construction in the
1950s, showing the dangers faced by the workers. The creation of the reservoir
forced resettlement of about 57,000 Tonga people living along the Zambezi on
both sides.

 There are many different perspectives on how much resettlement aid was given to
the displaced Tonga. British author David Howarth described the efforts in
Northern Rhodesia: "Everything that a government can do on a meagre budget is
being done.

 Demonstration gardens have been planted, to try to teach the Tonga more sensible
methods of agriculture, and to try to find cash crops that they can grow. The hilly
land has been plowed in ridge contours to guard against erosion.

 In Sinazongwe, an irrigated garden has grown a prodigious crop of paw paws,

bananas, oranges, lemons, and vegetables, and shown that the remains of the
valley could be made prolific if only money could be found for irrigation.

 Cooperative markets have been organized, and Tonga are being taught to run
them. Enterprising Tonga have been given loans to set themselves up as farmers.
More schools have been built than the Tonga ever had before, and most of the
Tonga are now within reach of dispensaries and hospitals."

 Anthropologist Thayer Scudder, who has studied these communities since the late
1950s, wrote: "Today, most are still 'development refugees'. Many live in less-
productive, problem-prone areas, some of which have been so seriously degraded
within the last generation that they resemble lands on the edge of the Sahara
Desert."

 American writer Jacques Leslie, in Deep Water (2005), focused on the plight of
the people displaced by Kariba Dam, and found the situation little changed since
the 1970s.
  In his view, Kariba remains the worst dam-resettlement disaster in African history.
Basilwizi Trust In an effort to regain control of their lives, the local people who
were displaced by the Kariba dam's reservoir formed the Basilwizi Trust in 2002.

 The Trust seeks mainly to improve the lives of people in the area through
organizing development projects and serving as a conduit between the people of
the Zambezi Valley and their country's decision-making process.

 River ecology The Kariba Dam controls 90% of the total runoff of the Zambezi
River, thus changing the downstream ecology dramatically. Wildlife rescue From
1958 to 1961, 'Operation Noah' captured and removed around 6,000 large animals
and numerous small ones threatened by the lake's rising waters.

Recent activity :-
 On 6 February 2008, the BBC reported that heavy rain might lead to a release of
water from the dam, which would force 50,000 people downstream to evacuate.
Rising levels led to the opening of the floodgates in March 2010, requiring the
evacuation of 130,000 people who lived in the floodplain, and causing concerns
that flooding may spread to nearby areas.

 In March 2014, at a conference organized by the Zambezi River Authority,

engineers warned that the foundations of the dam had weakened and there was a
possibility of dam failure unless repairs were made.

 On 3 October 2014 the BBC reported that “The Kariba Dam is in a dangerous
state. Opened in 1959, it was built on a seemingly solid bed of basalt. But, in the
past 50 years, the torrents from the spillway have eroded that bedrock, carving a
vast crater that has undercut the dam's foundations. ... engineers are now warning
that without urgent repairs, the whole dam will collapse.

 If that happened, a tsunami-like wall of water would rip through the Zambezi
valley, reaching the Mozambique border within eight hours. The torrent would
overwhelm Mozambique's Cahora Bassa Dam and knock out 40% of southern
Africa's hydroelectric capacity.

 Along with the devastation of wildlife in the valley, the Zambezi River Authority
estimates that the lives of 3.5 million people are at risk.” In June 2015 The
Institute of Risk Management South Africa completed a Risk Research Report
entitled Impact of the failure of the Kariba Dam.
  It concluded: "Whilst we can debate whether the Kariba Dam will fail, why it
might occur and when, there is no doubt that the impact across the region would
be devastating." In January 2016 it was reported that water levels at the dam had
dropped to 12% of capacity. Levels fell by 5.58 metres (18.3 ft), which is just 1.75
metres (5 ft 9 in) above the minimum operating level for hydropower.

 Low rainfalls and overuse of the water by the power plants have left the reservoir
near empty, raising the prospect that both Zimbabwe and Zambia will face water
shortages.

 In July and September 2018, the Lusaka Times reported that work had started
relating to the plunge pool and cracks in the dam wall.

 On 22 February 2019 Bloomberg reported "Zambia has reduced hydropower

production at the Kariba Dam because of rapidly declining water levels" but
"Zambia doesn’t anticipate power cuts as a result of shortages".

 On 5 August that year, the same publication reported that the reservoir was near
empty, and that it may have to stop hydropower production.

 As of November 2020, the water level in the Kariba reservoir has remained steady
around the 25% capacity, up from nearly half that in November 2019.

 The Zambezi River Authority has stated that it is optimistic about rainfall
estimates for the 2020/2021 rainfall season, allocating an increased amount of
water for power production.

 As it sits now, the reservoir is holding 15.77 billion cubic meters of water, with
the water line sitting at around 478.30 metres (1,569.23 ft), just above the
minimum capacity for power generation of 475.50 metres (1,560.04 ft).

REFERENCE:
 www.karibadam.com

 www.bartly.com