Top 5 Highest Dams in the World

Here’s the list of highest dams in the world. Dam is a construction that built to withstand the rate of water in the river into reservoirs that can be called artificial lakes and become a place of recreation. Often dams are also used to drain water into a hydroelectric power generation. Most of the dam also has a section called the gate to remove unwanted water continuously or gradually.

While dam have lot of benefit, we have to make sure that the dam is strong enough so that it won’t broke. As if the dam is broken it will cause large flood. This will make the people have to repair their house and do water damage cleanup as well as flooded basement cleanup when they have some basement on their house. For the purpose of strong construction these highest dam are made. So, let’s take a look at those highest dams in the world.

Dam Structure

5. Tehri Dam, India: 261 meters

Tehri Dam is the primary dam of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd., a major hydroelectric project centered near Tehri Town in the state of Uttarakhand in India. Located on the Bhagirathi River, the principal tributary of the sacred River Ganges, the Tehri Dam has a height of 855 feet (261 m), making it the 5th tallest dam in the world.

Tehri Dam

4. Vajont Dam, Italy: 262 meters

One of the highest dams in the world, it is 262 metres (860 ft) high, 27 metres (89 ft) thick at the base and 3.4 metres (11 ft) at the top. Its 1963 over-topping was caused when the designers ignored the geological instability of Monte Toc on the southern side of the basin. Warning signs and negative appraisals during the early stages of filling were disregarded, and the attempt to complete the filling led to a landslide which created a seiche wave that brought massive flooding and destruction to the Piave valley below, wiping out several villages completely.

Vajont Dam

3. Inguri Dam, Georgia: 272 meters

The Inguri Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Inguri River in Georgia. Currently it is the world’s highest concrete arch dam and the third highest dam in the world with a height of 272 meters (892 ft). It is located north of the town Jvari. It is part of the Inguri hydroelectric power station (HES) which is partially located in the partially recognised Abkhazia.

Inguri Dam

2. Grande Dixence Dam, Switzerland: 284 meters

The Grande Dixence Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Dixence at the head of the Val d’Hérens in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. With the 285 meters high, it is the tallest gravity dam in the world, tallest dam in Europe and world’s second tallest dams. The dam’s primary purpose is producing hydroelectricity and the four power stations it supplies have a combined capacity of 2069 MW which produce 2 billion kWh annually, enough for 400,000 households.

Grande Dixence Dam

1. Nurek Dam, Tajikistan: 314 meters

The Nurek Dam is an earth fill embankment dam on the Vakhsh River in the central Asian nation of Tajikistan. It is currently the tallest dam in the world. Construction of the dam began in 1961 and was completed in 1980, when Tajikistan was still a republic within the Soviet Union. The Rogun Dam, under construction along the Vakhsh also in Tajikistan, may exceed it when completed, depending on its final height.

Nurek Dam

Dam is created with strong construction so it will be safe for the people that live near the dam. As flood can happen when the structure is leaked or perforated. There is a number of case of failed of a dam. Some just causing a small impact that people have to drying wet basement and cleanup the water from their house, but some of them are causing a number of human victims.