SCHEMES IN OTHER LANDS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19941, 27 October 1934, Page 6

SCHEMES IN OTHER LANDS

HUGE EGYPTIAN WORKS

After the description of the Waitaki Hydro works given in this issue, some account of other schemes in various parts of the world might be of interest and are given below.

Power and Irrigation Undertakings For the purpose of irrigating a large tract of country, an enormous dam has been built across the Blue Nile, at Makwar, a village 170 miles south of Khartoum. At this spot the river Is divided by a small Island of hard rock, and this was used to divert the river to one channel, while the foundations of the dam were laid on the other half. The structure is nearly two miles long and over 1,000,000 tons of masonry were used. The height above foundation land is 120 feet. A lake five miles long and two miles wide has been formed, but as a result of this barrage the level of the river is affected for a distance of 100 miles upstream. The Sudan railway line is carried across on dam, thus serving a double purpose. There are two sets of sluice gates— the lower for impounding the water at normal level, while the upper are used as spillways in flood time, so that the water does not rise above the railway tracks. In the lower portion there are 80 sluice gates, each weighing 10 tons. These are raised by a petrol-driven crane. The canal system supplying the irrigated area consists of a main canal 62 miles in length, and 900 miles of branch canals. From these branch canals there radiate 3125 miles of field channels. As the result of this huge undertaking 300,000 acres of arid land has been brought under cultivation. Buenos Aires Scheme These works are one of the largest in the world. There are provisions for five sets of generators, each developing 130,000 h.p., but in the meantime only two are to be utilised. The Sukkur Dam Another huge irrigation scheme is the construction of the Sukkur Dam, in India, now known as the Lloyd Barrage. This undertaking Involved the construction of 50,000 miles of canals, three of which are larger than the Suez Canal. The dam is a mile long, and will give control of cultivation of over 7,500,000 acres, of which nearly 6,000,000 acres will be reclaimed sandy desert. Moscow Electrification Scheme The Russian Government have in view a scheme for the electrification of the Moscow suburban railways and also for the harnessing of the river Dneister. The former scheme is esttmated to cost £2,000,000 and the latter £20.000,000.

Hydro-Electricity in Spain One of the most interesting hydro-

electric schemes in the world is that which supplies power to Catalonia, in Spain. The main generating plant extends along the banks of three snowfed rivers. A group of lakes at an altitude of 7,000 feet form the first reservoirs. There are seven power stations in this system, generating a total of 220,000 h.p. Twenty-five years ago the city, of Barcelona was a city of smoke. To-day it is smokeless, thanks to the use of hydro-elegtric power. Cauvery Metur Dam The Cauvery Metur Dam, some 230 miles from Madras, which is believed to be one of the biggest in existence, has at last been completed. It took three million tons of stone and concrete in making the dam, which is a mile long, and impounds an artificial lake containing nearly 94,000 million isfcic feet of water. A million teres of rice fields are irrigated by it, and 300,000 acres of new land will be made cultivable.