Top 5 mega dams: were they worth the cost?
Large-scale dams provide regions with irrigation and electricity, but have been criticised for their huge costs. The New Economy looks at the world’s biggest
The Tarbela Dam in Pakistan was completed in 1974 and cost nearly $1.5bn - the equivalent of of $3.4bn today. Was the dam worth the expense?
According to a recent study, huge dams often prove to be worth far less than their colossal costs. Researchers at Oxford University report that of 245 dams constructed between 1934 and 2007, on average they ran at over 96 percent of their budgets and took more than eight years to build.
Here are the five biggest dams in the world by volume.
1. Syncrude Tailings Dam Mildred MLSB, Canada
With construction beginning in 1978, the Syncrude Tailings Dam at the Mildred Lake Settling Basin (MLSB) was completed in 1995 and six years later confirmed as the world’s largest structure by volume of construction material. 40km north of Fort McMurray in Alberta, Canada, the dam is 18km in length and roughly 40m in height.
2. Tarbela Dam, Pakistan
Located on the Indus River in Parkistan, the Tarbela Dam is the largest earth filled dam in the world. Soaring 148m above the riverbed, the dam was completed in 1974 and stores water for the irrigation of the surrounding Haripur District, as well as generating hydroelectric power and flood control. It cost almost $1.5bn to construct at the time; roughly $3.4bn in today’s terms.
3. Syncrude Tailings Dam Mildred SWSS, Canada
Another huge dam found to the southwest corner of the Mildred Lake area, the SWSS Dam was commissioned in 1993 and finally completed in 2010. With an embankment length of 19.5km and a maximum height of at around 30m, it is yet another vast dam serving the Alberta region of Canada.
4. Fort Peck Dam, US
Opened to much fanfare in 1940, the Fort Peck Dam is one of six major dams that serve the Missouri River in Northeast Montana. Costing $100m at the time – about $1.7bn today – it is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the US. 6,409m in length and 76m in height, the dam has created the Fort Peck Lake, which has a shoreline 1,520 miles long.
5. Atatürk Dam, Turkey
A rock-fill dam on the Euphrates River in Turkey, the Atatürk Dam is a colossal structure that generates both electricity and irrigation to the Adıyaman and Şanlıurfa provinces. Named after the country’s first President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the dam embankment is 169m high and 1,820m long. The hydroelectric power plant has an installed capacity of 2,400MW and generates 8,900GWh each year. It cost $1.25bn to build and was finished in 1993.
