Showing posts with label dam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dam. Show all posts

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Gyonyu Dam


Early on the second day of my walk around the Kunisaki Peninsula I quickly pass the highest point, which I will be revisiting in a few days when I come up from the south. I carry on east towards the coast where I have a room booked for the night.


Partway down I soon come to the resrvoir behind Gyonyu Dam. Finished in 1997 the dam is for "flood control", which is really just code for " we have shedloads of cash to pour as much concrete as we can". The construction industry in Japan occupies a similar position in the economy as does the military industrial complex in the USA.


There are more dams in Japan, per capita, and per acre, than anywhere else. There is not a river that has not been dammed.


The reservoir is quite pretty, especially with the low sunlight and the remnants of Fall color. From here the valley descends and widens as it approaches Kunisaki Town.


Thursday, August 8, 2013

Sanbe Dam





The second temple on the Iwami 33 Kannon pilgrimage (actually the first "extra" temple) is located on the mountainside above Sanbe Dam. Thats Mount Sanbe behind.


Seeing how aged the concrete is I was surprised to learn that the dam was not finished until 1996, although construction started in 1980.


The dam is a little over 54 meters high and 140 meters wide at its crest and is composed of 110,000 cubic meters of rock and concrete. Ostensibly the purpose of the dam is flood control and to supply water to Oda City, but its real purpose is to funnel money to construction companies.


The small reservoir has a capacity of 7,000,000 cubic meters of water.