Description
Tarbela Dam (Pashto: د توربېلې بند, Hindko: تربیلا بند) is an earth-filled dam along the Indus River in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is located mainly in the Haripur District of the province. It is about 20 km (10 mi) from the city of Haripur, 105 km (65 mi) northwest of Islamabad, and 125 km (80 mi) east of Peshawar. It is the largest earth-filled dam in the world. The dam is 143 metres (470 ft) high above the riverbed and its reservoir, Tarbela Lake, has a surface area of approximately 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi).
The Tarbela Dam is built on the Indus at Bara near the village of Tarbela. It is about 30 km from the town of Attock. When the Indus leaves the Himalayans foothills and enters the Potwar pleateau, the water is stored in the reservoir of the dam. It is 143 meters high, having an area of 243 square km. It has a storage capacity of 119 billion cubic meters of water and has nine gates to control the outflow of water. The dam was completed in 1976 and was designed to utilize water from the Indus River for irrigation, flood control, and the generation of hydroelectric power by storing flows during the monsoon period while subsequently releasing stored water during the low flow period in winter. The installed capacity of the 4,888 MW Tarbela hydroelectric power stations will increase to 6,418 MW after completion of the planned fifth extension financed by Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the World Bank.
