Miyagase Dam

The Miyagase Dam (Japanese宮ヶ瀬 ダム, Miyagase damu ) is a dam on the Nakatsu, an important tributary of the Sagami district Aiko in Kanagawa Prefecture on the island of Honshu in Japan. The dam straddles the border between Kiyokawa, the city Aikawa and the former town Tsukui (now part of Sagamihara ).

Architectural History

It began in the 1930s to develop the hydropower potential of the Sagami River, as the industry and the power consumption in the Yokohama Kanagawa industrial region started growing. Construction of Sagami Dam, the first dam on the Sagami, began in 1938, but the lack of funds and the beginning of the Second World War delayed the completion until the end of the war. The construction of the Shiroyama Dam was completed in 1965. The growth of population in the nearby Atsugi and the increased demand for water and drinking water suggested plans for more dams on the tributaries to the Sagami. Plans for the Miyagase Dam was completed in 1969 and work began in 1971. Due to the size of the structure and because some 300 households had to be relocated, the building was only completed in 2000.

Construction and use

The Miyagase Dam is an internally hollow gravity dam made ​​of concrete. It was designed and built by a consortium of Kajima Construction, Obayashi Gumi and Toda Corporation. The dam is a multi-purpose facility. In addition to flood protection, it provides 90 % of the tap water for two-thirds of the population in the Kanagawa Prefecture, including the cities of Kawasaki, Yokohama and Yokosuka. They also supplied the Aikawa- water power plant, which has a rated output of 24 MW.

The 156 m high dam is the second highest dam in the Kanto Region.

The pent-up of the dam Miyagase Reservoir is a popular resort in the Kanagawa Prefecture. Dam and reservoir can be reached via the national road 412.