Kariba Dam
Kariba Dam
Kariba Dam
Padma Bharath
The Kariba Dam is now owned and operated by the Zambezi River Authority, which is
jointly and equally owned by Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The arch dam was constructed
between 1956 and 1959 and supplies
water to two underground hydropower
plants located on the north bank in
Zambia and on the south bank in
Zimbabwe.
Due to the building of the dam wall , tribes of about 57,000 Tonga people living along the
Zambezi valley upstream of it in both Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) and
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) were forced out of Kariba and now inhabit other parts
of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
420 kilometers downstream from Victoria Falls, the Kariba Dam is the one
of the largest man-made reservoir in the world.
At a height of 128m and with a crest length of 617m, the dam has the
capacity of holding 181 billion cubic meters of water.
The Kariba dam creates Lake Kariba which is 280km long at full level, 32km across at
its widest, 5,400 square kilometers surface area and has a catchment area of 6,63,000
square kilometers.
Fishery & Tourism:
Kariba was designed as a single purpose hydropower project, but as it turned out
both fishery and tourism became important benefits.
Fishery and fish farming have become one of the most important secondary benefits
of the Kariba project.
Construction of the dam
has led to the preservation
of wilderness areas in National
parks along the lake shore.
This has helped grow a tourist
industry in the area boosting
the local economy.
Rafting on the Zambezi River,
below the Victoria Falls
Technical Data:
Caterpillar gates, 6 no. of gates each 8.8m wide and 9 metres height.
North Zambia
Power from the reservoir is generated through two underground power stations located
on the North (left) bank in Zambia and on the South (right) bank in Zimbabwe .
There are twelve francis type turbines, six on either side of the Zambezi River.
More specifically 6 x 125 MW (750 MW) on the South bank and 6 x 180 MW (1,080 MW)
(four old and two recently commissioned) on the North bank.
The Kariba Dam supplies 1,626 megawatts (2,181,000 hp) of electricity to parts of both
Zambia(the Copper belt) and Zimbabwe and generates 6,400 gigawatt-hours(23,000 TJ)
per annum.
Floods During Construction Period:
On the Christmas Eve 1955 an unprecedented flood stormed down the George, washing
away the foundations of the dam and in November 1956, heavy rainfall a month before
they were due, causing more flooding and impeding work on the dam.
On 20th February 1959, a platform in a shaft to the power station collapsed killing
17 workers and by this time the Dam construction has cost the lives of over 87 people.
Operation Noah:
As the reservoir began to fill, animals got trapped on newly formed islands
Which led to ‘Operation Noah’ which was the rescue of these animals from 1958 to 1961,
captured and removed around 6,000 large animals and numerous small ones threatened
by the lake's rising waters.
Expedition leader Rupert Fothergill (L) along with other rescue workers
saving an antelope from the flooding waters caused by the Kariba dam.
The filling of what was then the world's largest man made reservoir was
followed by considerable earthquake activity. The weight of Kariba’s reservoir translates
into a mass of 180 billion metric tons. The reservoir is located in a tectonically
active area, at the southern end of the African Rift Valley.
Since its construction and filling in the early 1960s, Kariba has caused
numerous earthquakes in the area, 20 of them larger than magnitude 5 on the Richter
scale. Project documents did not discuss the possibility of reservoir-induced
seismicity and the need to take this into account in the design of the dam, so
the seismic activity’s affect on the dam’s safety is unknown.
Lake Kariba region was considered a seismic prior to the impoundment in early 1959.
Figure 2, extracted from the Archer and Allen (1979) catalog . of earthquakes for the Kariba region,
illustrates that, shortly after impoundment, seismicity increased dramatically. As witnessed at other
reservoirs associated with RIS, the figure displays the apparent correlation between the
changes in the reservoir's water level and the increase in regional seismicity.
ADVANTAGES OF THE KARIBA DAM
TOURISM: The Kariba Dam created one of the worlds largest artificial lakes
behind the concrete wall. This created opportunities for such things as fishing,
water sports, swimming, plus the dam itself attracted attention.
FISH: A successful fishing scheme was set up for commercial and sport fishing.
WILDLIFE: Operation Noah - By 1959 the operation had rescued 6000 animals
from the negative dam impacts.
DISADVANTAGES OF THE KARIBA DAM
DISPLACEMENT: 57,000 people were displaced and resettled, 27,000 lived on the
Zambian Northern side and the remaining 27,000 on the Zimbabwean Southern bank of
the river (Gillett et al, 2002). Not all of the population were not informed about the dam
prior to early construction.
TONGA: 30,000 of these were a part of the Tonga tribes. Social and cultural heritage
was lost and minimum compensation was provided.
FISH: The dam blocked the migration of the native fish species, this separated spawning
habitats from rearing habitats.
SEDIMENT BUILD UP: The lower Zambezi River shows continuous aggradations
(deposition of sediment) and sediment fining.
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 (ZRA) estimates that the lives of 3.5 million
people are at risk.”
Spillway torrents have excavated a
massive cavern in the Zambezi river bed, now 10
times bigger and deeper than the original design
dimensions, that threatens the stability of the
wall foundations.
It is necessary to reduce the turbulence from water, discharged at 8,000
tonnes a second at times, into the plunge pool below the dam by enlarging the
cavern, and allowing the turbulence resulting from the spillway discharge to be
dissipated in a less damaging way.
Apart from the need to rehabilitate the plunge pool, there is also a need to
rehabilitate the six sluice gates that make up the spillway. The work needed within
the sluices is associated with the refurbishment of the concrete surface of all sluices which
have been distorted over the years due to an advanced alkali-Silicate reaction(ASR).
The other financiers are the World Bank ($75 million loan), the African
Development Bank ($36 million grant to Zimbabwe and a $39 million loan to
Zambia), and Sweden ($25 million grant) with the balance being paid by Zambia and
Zimbabwe, through their jointly owned Zambezi River Authority (ZRA)—operators
of the dam.
The dam repair has raised hopes for people in Kariba and Siavonga, the two
towns overlooking Kariba Dam, with the promise of jobs and increased business
opportunities that the influx of people into the area for the duration of the project will
bring.
The rehabilitation of the world’s largest man-made reservoir will prevent both
from turning into ghost towns.
French engineering firm Razel-BEC International Development vice president
Mr. Eric Thouvenel (left), Zambian Secretary to The Treasury Mr.Fredson Yamba and
head of delegation of the European Union to Zambia Mr. Alessandro Mariani (right) sign
the $294 million contract for rehabilitation at the Kariba Dam Wall.
The deal will allow Razel-Bec to reshape the plunge pool beneath Kariba and make
repairs to the dam's spillway. ZRA officials said they expect work on the plunge pool
to be complete by 2021, and work on the spillway to be finished in 2022.
The project will be carried out under the auspices of the Zambezi River Authority, a
bi-national organization managing the Zambezi River on behalf of the governments of
Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The rehabilitation contract includes reshaping of the plunge pool and protection of its
fault zone using reinforced concrete mattress and refurbishment of the spillway to
improve the operation and reduced the risk of the upstream spillway control facility.
Reshaping the plunge pool will lead to an increase in efficiency and an improved
capacity to dissipate the energy generated by the spilling events — those moments when
the spill gates are opened to release water.
The aim of the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Works is to improve the stability
of the plunge pool through reshaping its profile. This will limit the preferential
erosion towards the foundations of the dam along zones of weak rock. The project
also aims to rehabilitate the six sluice gates of the spillway, enabling the
ongoing use of the spillway function to manage the reservoir levels.
Generally, the rehabilitation of the plunge pool will include a number of activities:
(i) The construction of a cofferdam just downstream of the plunge pool, which
block off the plunge pool from the downstream river.
(iv) The deposition of excavated rock material in the existing quarry on the north bank
(v) The reshaping of the excavated plunge pool into terraced steps excavation and
pumping will be carried out simultaneously.
While excavations are being carried out on one of the plunge pool steps, the pumps will
keep lowering the water level underneath. The objective is to be able to excavate
continuously even when switching from one step to the next one situated below it.
An estimated 295,000 m³ of rock will be carefully excavated due to the excavation
depth below the current Tail Water Level (TWL). The reshaping of the plunge pool into
terraced steps will reduce dynamic pressures in the pool and reduce flow recirculation
towards dam toe. As a result, it is estimated that the power density will be reduced from
25 kW/m3 to 7.5 kW/m3. Trial blasts will be carried out, whereby increasing charges
of explosives will be fired and the impacts of the vibrations on the surrounding sensitive
structures will be measured.
In order to arrive at the above process the engineering team
undertook;
Multi-beam Bathymetric Survey of the Pool; Plunge Pool Geotechnical
Investigations; and Plunge Pool Hydraulic Modeling.
Multi-beam bathymetric photo of the Kariba Dam plunge pool.
The reshaping of the plunge pool
Calls for the construction of a temporary
cofferdam or barrage.
The ZRA operates under the Zambezi River Authority Act, and is mandated to
Harness and manage the Zambezi River waters for socio-economic development and to
Maintain the Kariba Dam complex including any future dams or infrastructure on the
river forming a common border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The ZRA will manage the Kariba Dam Rehabilitation Project together
With other Consultants, Engineers and Construction entities as necessary and Appointed
for the project.
References:
Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.
Alternative Proxies: