Chile’s Bíobío River flows northwestward from the high Cordillera of the Andes to the Pacific Ocean near Concepción, about 450 kilometers south of Santiago. The river is known globally for spectacular white-water rafting. This image shows a section of the river that skirts around Callaqui volcano in the Andes, and features the Pangue Dam and reservoir filling a narrow, meandering segment of the Bíobío River valley. Completed in 1996, the dam is the first of six hydroelectric dams planned by ENDESA, a Chilean utility company. The future development of the Bíobío River is a point of intense debate among Chileans, and has been called Chile’s “defining environmental issue.”
Published Feb 16, 2004
Authorities keeps a watchful eye on ice near a key dam on the Kyiv Reservoir.
Published Mar 31, 2012
This false-color image shows the central part of the Vakhsh River, including the Nurek Dam and reservoir.
Published Nov 25, 2008
People from several villages had to relocate to make way for a new dam that will give the country’s supply of electricity a boost.
Published Feb 24, 2018
Brazil’s Porto Primavera Dam sits on the Paraná River, 28 kilometers (17 miles) upstream from the confluence of the Paranapanema and Paraná Rivers. Constructed to provide hydroelectricity, this dam created the Porto Primavera Reservoir
Published Apr 27, 2008
One of the world’s largest artificial lakes, Lake Nasser is named after the Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser, who is largely responsible for the lake’s creation. President Nasser decided to build the Aswan High Dam across the Nile, forming a lake approximately 550 kilometers (340 miles) long.
Published Nov 3, 2005
These satellite images show Tempe Town Lake before and after a rubber dam maintaining the reservoir burst.
Published Aug 8, 2010
The longest river in Asia, the Yangtze River brings mixed blessings to China. Although it meets the water needs of millions of people, the river regularly overflows its banks. To protect residents and land in the lower Yangtze floodplains, China began construction on the Three Gorges Dam in 1994.
Published Jun 13, 2007
The Bafing River travels through Guinea and Mali, and eventually joins with the Senegal River in western Africa. In the 1970s, drought struck the region, prompting a multinational effort to develop irrigation and power generation.
Published Dec 28, 2008
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