Mestaoua Dam

The Mestaoua dam, located in Biskra province, has a reservoir with a storage volume of 10.49 hm³ and is intended for irrigation.

Main features:

• Dam type: Alternative solutions for a zoned embankment dam: homogeneous landfill with internal geomembrane or homogeneous landfill with bituminous core, being this the solution adopted;
• Landfill volume: 1.14 hm³;
• Maximum height of the dam: 34.5 m;
• Crest length and width: 538 m and 7 m;
• Flood Spillway: side spillway, 65 m long and 20 m wide channel, USBR II type stilling basin and flow capacity of 760 m³/s;
• Vertical water intake tower with access walkway;
• Bottom Outlet: With bottom outlet gallery and provisional cut-and-cover diversion, with mixed section (rectangular plus semi-circular) 4 m wide and 4 m high. Steel bottom outlet duct with 1200 mm diameter.

The project comprised the hydrological and regularization study, geological, geotechnical and seismicity study, technical-economic study of variant solutions of the dam and its hydraulic bodies, study of environmental impact and water quality, study of social impacts and profitability, as well as topographical works and the geological-geotechnical surveying.