CONSTRUCTION OF MAJOR IRRIGATION PROJECTS IN THE USSR, 1954-1955

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700250055-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 19
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 55
• Publication Date: March 16, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

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COUNTRY
vLIVII~nL IIYICLLIVGIVIJC /1UCIVliT I{tl'OH
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD N0.
USSR
SUBJECT
HOW
DATE 0
Economic -Construction, agriculture, INFORMATION
irrigation
1954-195
PUB
DATE DIST. /6
Mar 1956
LISHED
WHERE
Daily, thrice weekly newspapers;
weeY.ly, monthly periodicals
PUBLISHED
USSR, Athens N0. OF PAGES
19
DATE
PUBLISHED
Oct 1953-27 Scp 1955
LANGUAGE
Russian, Greelc SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
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COI4STRUCTION OF 1M1JOR IRRIGATION PROJECTS IN THE USSR 1954-1955
[Com-nent: This report presents infornation on the construction of
major Soviet irrigation pro,]ects, extracted from foreign-lan~ua~e news-
papers and periodicals published October 1953-September 1955. The in-
foxrlation is arranged accordin6 to republic.
Numbers in parentheses refer to appended sources.]
Arzni-Shamiramskiy Irritation Canal
In June 1954, the Arzni-Shamiramskiy Irrigation Canal, the largest such
project in the Armenian SSR, was under construction. The water flowing through
.::is canal will irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of fertile steppes which
o;.-tend from the foothills of the Aragats Dlountains. To help complote this pro,j-'
ec~ on schedule, membex?s of the Komsomol of luTnenia had been sent from cities
~:~a villages to work on the canal.(1) Tire "Armvodstroy" Trust [Armenian Irri-
gat:ion Construction Trust] (chief engineer, P. Sha~oyan) was in charge of cou-
str~xction. (^ )
STATE
ARMY
NAW
AIR
NSRB
FBI
-D-I-SIT--R-I~B--UTI ONE
I 1 I
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Sa?r:rte -Divichinsl:i? Irri,ratiott Canal itacni I. V. Stalin
i'73e Sartul? Raver forme a n:.ttural boundary between Da;;estan asst. Azc,?ba~dzhan.
Por centtu?ics, it has c:npticd its waters Into the Caspian Sca. IIc;'orc World
I/ar II, the Cirst section o: the S:mtur-DivichinsY.iy Canal was hui].t to sui:ply
~~ex? to the l:ell:hozcs and sovl:}tozes located alon:; its unnL-.^, in rl:e :ize;~,:n,??tshe.n
(3)
Tf!c second section o; rite S:+,alr-Divic::insl::iy Cr.:ra ?,,
i;:c cclnal will ~ rcvid.c i??rir?ation fcr 1~ 1; _ ; '--1c:::et~;s 1c , . (F )
rar;,l tc stgml? - .' ~, C: Lectors; s?~gation of 2 aillion
hectares of land. (29) In June 1955, ~;,~; ,?~yl_Ox.rlinsl:a
pletion? The builders were striving to complete cork en itlt oyJthea38th anni-
versary cf the Octcber Revolution f7 Tlovember 1955]?(30)
Urtc-Tekoy Reservoir and Bol'shey Chuyski' Canal
Together with the Bol'siicy Chuyslay Canal, the Orto-Tol:oy Reservoir will
nroviuc fc. i.ri};ation of over 100,000 hectares of land in the Chu Valley.
The reservoir will have a surface area of ever 60 square kilometers.(31}
It will be 1G kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide in places. The reservoir
'rill hold almost 500 rtillicn cubic meters of water. Because the dam for the
-aservoir ~s being built in a seismic zone, none of the conventional construction
m=terials (shut piling, steel reinforcements, ccncrete, etc.) are being used.
Instead, broken nieces of syenite x?cck found in the area are to be placed in the
dam which will block the outlet at the loucr end of the gorge where the reservoir
? ?1s being created.(32)
In the winter of 1953-1951F, wort: on the Orto-Tokoy Reservoir was suspended
because of the severe weather. In 1951f, a tunnel drilled through solid rock
?~~ to divert the waters of the Chu River ;pis to be ccnpletPd so that work on the
dam could nroceed.(33) In Idobe:nber 1954, the dam had reached a height of 19
meters.(34) On It April 1955, the Chu River was finally diverted through the
tunnel in the rocks. iieanwhile the dam had reached a height of 30 meters in
places; about 1.5 millicn cubic meters of rock and earth remained to be n),^.ced
in the dam.(31)
Fcr technical reasons, the Bo1'shcy Chuys};iy Canal_ is being builttas two
separate main canals, a western canal and an eastern canal. In 13ay 1954, all
basic construction crork on the western catfxal, which is 140 kilometers long,
had been cotrmleted.(35) On 1 May 1954, the permanent head structure of tlxe
western canal was completed. Prior to that date a tetrtpcrary structure had
been in use and the canal had become cho:ced up with sand and gravel. The Herr
structure prevents sand and I"?~;el from euterin~ the canal.(36) The western
canal supplies water for irrigation of 20,000 hectares of land. Flhen the Orto-
"'o};oy Reservoir is completed
~ , the canal will carry enough .rater
h~,000 hectares of land.(37) to irrigate
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In September 1951F, the second section of the IIol'shoy Chuyshiy Cana].,
the eastern canal, tms under construction. This canal will be about 100
kilometers long, extending to the city of Frunze. It will irrigate 35,000
hectares of land in Frunzenskaya Oblast. The large head structure of the
canal is being built on the Chu River near the village of Chimkurgan. Er.-
cavntors had begun to remove earth for the foundation of a reinforced-concrete
dam which will divert part of the waters of the Chu River into the canal. The
t,?ater will drop 150 meters in the first 6 Y,ilometers of the canal. Construction
of the first 10 kilometers of the canal had been comnleted.(38)
In June 1955, the builders had concreted the foundation of the dam.
Forty kilometer; of the canal had been dug. ALnost 800,0.70 cubic meters of
earthxork had been performed. Along the first 6 kilometers of the ,canal,
the Kegetins]ciy cascade xas bein; created; electric mower stations are to be
built here nt a future time. The Bol'shoy Chuysl:iy Canal is one of the largest
irrigation structures in Central Asi.a? Alain and interl;oll:hoz irrigation canals
tbgether ~~ill be several thousand kilometers long. About 20,000 concrete and
stone hydraulic structures xi11 be erected alon? them.(39)
Terel;-Kum:. Irri lion System '
Construction of the Terel:-Kama h?rigaticn System began in 1952? In all,
the system will sunply triter to ].5 million hectares of grid land and irrigate
1110,w~ hectares of land, including 120,000 hectares of maadoers and pastures.
In planninr; irrigation of the lotrlands lying west of the Caspian Sea, it was
decided to tae the crater of the ^Terek River in preference to the Volga since
the former trotlld flow by gravity while the latter would have to be pumped.
The Terek-Kama Canal will be easy to build since soil conditions along the
route are favorable, there are no deco. uenressions, large ridges, or landslide
areas, and the ntttnber of structures to be built is few. Parallel to the main
canal nn inspection road with a gravel stu?face is being built.(40)
The TereY.-Krona Canal will orginate on the Terel: River near the city of
Abzdek? From here, the main canal ui11 extend to the Kuma River with branches
diverging and extending as far as the Caspian Sea. Total length of the canals
will be about 1,000 l:ilometcrs.(41) The Terel: River gill completely supply the
grater needs u: the Ilogayskaya Steppe. The head structure of the Terek-Kama
Canal will consist of a reinfmro ed-concrete dam, a settling basin, a hydro-
electric power station, and a water-storage lock designed to discharge 200
cubic meters of water per second. The head structure will ma];e it possible
to take 2.8 billion cubic meters of water annually from the Terek River. Of
this amount, 2 billion .rill be used to sunply crater to the Ilogaysl;aya Steppe,
tahile .`,'00,000 million can be diverted to the IiunL1 River and stored in the
Chograysl:oye Reservoir for subsequent watering and irrigation of the chernozem.
Water from the Terel: River will be collected at stanitss Pavlodol'skaya? The
branches of the canal will be 25-30 kilometers apart. In the suruner, ;,meter
till be supplied to them in accordance with a graph and in the winter at a
rate of 2-6 cubic meters per second. In the susner, ;rhea the tna:;imum amount
of water is needed For irrigation, eater t;i11 be i'ed into the Kvma River at a
rate of 10 cubic meters per second. From the rt