What is a water channel? It is an artificial stream created for any purpose. This may be irrigation, redirection of the current or reduction of routes. Some water canals were used by tourists as a resting place. There are beautiful landscapes, clean air, many birds. There are two reasons for creating canals: transporting water or cargo. As a rule, most of these reservoirs are navigable.
A channel called Karakum is quite important for its state. It stands out from several parts.
Description
In 1988, a unique hydraulic engineering facility, the Karakum Canal, was commissioned in the Soviet Union. The stream was 1,450 kilometers long and connected the unruly river Amu Darya (local name is Ceyhun) and the Caspian Sea. There are no analogues in the world in terms of complexity, design decisions and difficulties in operation due to the extreme natural conditions of the desert expanses of the Karakum.
Reasons to build a canal
For more than thirty years (since 1954) the construction of the Karakum canal was carried out, the time of its creation combined the era of Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and attracted representatives of 32 nationalities from 250 cities of the Soviet Union. Each region of a huge country considered it his duty to send special materials, equipment and provide other necessary assistance for a giant all-Union project.
The problem of supplying water to the arid regions of Turkmenistan has long been a problem. This was the most significant task of his time. But to deploy the waters of the naughty, obstinate river and let them through the boundless sands of the desert is only possible for a strong and economically developed state.
Construction
The Karakum canal was built in several stages, each of which connected certain settlements with a water stream. The first channel branch, from the Amu Darya River to the city of Murghab, was laid in 1959. It was about 400 km long. An important result of the construction of the first stage of the water flow is the ability to put into circulation new irrigated lands with an area of over 1000 sq. km The next section passed through the village of Tedzhen. It amounted to a length of approximately 140 km, allowed to provide water to 700 square meters. km and support an additional 30 thousand hectares of irrigated fields.
To the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, the Karakum Canal was held in 1962. By this time, its length was almost 800 km. The area of newly irrigated lands in the entire direction of the flow reached about 3,000 square meters. km
During this period, the construction of the canal was suspended and only in 1971 resumed again. The builders began the construction of the fourth branch, which had the direction of Ashgabat - Beriket. At the same time, the Kopetdag Dam and the reservoir of the same name were erected.
The fate of the channel
Later, the designers of the Karakum Canal was divided into two directions. One branch extended to the southwestern region of Turkmenistan to the village of Atrek and was 270 km long. The second branch went to the city of Nebit-Dag. The last section of the channel passes through pipes and supplies water to the former Krasnovodsk (modern Turkmenbashi).
Already in the period of modern history, at the beginning of the XXI century, the builders of independent Turkmenistan erected the largest reservoir in the region - Zeid, with the aim of upholding and clarifying the water.
Due to the constant sandstorms at the turns of the canal, where coasts often collapse, work is carried out by special operational organizations for supervision and maintenance all year round, the Karakum Canal is so complicated. The history of this building is really interesting.