Read on to know about this wonder...
Using the narrowest point of the Mahaweli River, this Victoria Dam is built just below the point where the Hulu River joins the Mahaweli River.
This Victoria Dam was built by connecting the Denigala mountain of Thel Deniya Divisional Secretariat Kottasaya in the Central Province, Kandy District and the Bolagala Mountain belonging to the Haguranketha Divisional Secretariat of the Nuwara Eliya District in the Central Province.
Victoria Falls is 300m below this dam.
The height of the waterfall is 10 meters.
This work was started when there was no radio in Sri Lankan homes. From 1949 to 1980, surveys were conducted to build this dam. That means they have been researching this for 31 years.
According to the idea of Mr. J.R. Jayawardene, who worked as the President at that time, Mr. Lalith Athulathmudali and Mr. Gamini Dissanayake, the Minister of Electricity at that time, were also involved.
Help was sought from England to build this dam.
We are going to build a reservoir, give us a loan for it. But even if this money is given as a loan, we will give the name of this dam as “Victoria” which comes from the royal lineage of the queen.
This work will be handed over to Alexander Engineering Company of England with 8400 million rupees from England.
An Englishman named Neil Martin laid the foundation stone for this in 1980
Why build Victoria Dam?
To store water for agriculture.
To generate hydropower.
For the water consumption of those who were in the upper area of the dam.
To develop fresh water dairy industry.
To control the river water. The factors were important.
Accordingly
The people are coming to Sri Lanka to start the work
Brief details of the dam..
This dam is built on an aggregate. Aggregate is grilled and taken as its base. The total depth of the aggregate here is 237 meters.
To lay the foundation, the foundation was laid by grilling this stone 25 meters deep and 25 meters wide.
The height of the dam is 121 meters
The height of the dam is 121 meters
🔵 ️ Length 520 meters
🔵 ️Victoria Dam is a double arched concrete dam.
🔵️ Four hundred and eighty thousand cubic meters of concrete have been spent on this dam.
🔵 ️Maximum water level – 438.04 above sea level.
🔵 ️The total amount of water that can be stored is ten lakh seven hundred and twenty two cubic meters.
🔵 ️The maximum water level reservoir area is 23.7 square kilometers spread over 5 Divisional Secretaries.
This dam consists of 7 floors. It is possible to move around within those 7 floors. If the dam is filled with people, it can hold 50,000 people.
When this dam is completely filled, the dam is pushed down by a maximum of 68 mm and a minimum of 30 mm. That is, Victoria Dam is a concrete dam that swings back and forth. Can’t even imagine, right?
Besides, not even a tenth of iron wire has been used for this dam. We think that strength comes from iron wires. But no wire was used for this dam. But a special method has been used, that is, when concrete is mixed, this concrete is mixed with “ice water”. Also, before 3 minutes pass, go and put the concrete in that block. If it is not possible, it is thrown away.
Also, 210 megawatts of electricity is produced from the water flowing through the Victoria Dam. It is the largest hydroelectric plant in Sri Lanka.
There are 8 automatic sluices. During the flood season, only 2 sluices are opened. When these 2 sluices are opened 74 centimeters, 300 meters of water is released per second.
The water released from there goes to the Randenigala Reservoir, then to the Rantabe Reservoir, then to the Loggal Oya Reservoir, then to the Maveli C region and then to the Maduru Oya Reservoir.
In 1984, the work on the dam was completed. On April 7, 1984, the reservoir was filled with water, and in 1985, it was officially handed over to Sri Lanka.
7000 workers worked day and night to complete this dam and the number of deaths was 50. Sri Lankan 47. England 3
Whether you come as a tourist or an explorer, see this huge creation.
Don’t forget to bequeath carefully to the next generation..