Angara River - Dams and Reservoirs

Dams and Reservoirs

The Angara is dammed by the dams of three major hydroelectric plants that have been constructed since the 1950s.

• Irkutsk Dam (Иркутская ГЭС), forming the Irkutsk Reservoir, which floods the valley of the river from its source to Irkutsk, and slightly raises the water level in Lake Baikal.
• Bratsk Dam, forming the Bratsk Reservoir.
• Ust-Ilimsk Dam (Усть-Илимская ГЭС), at Ust-Ilimsk, forming the Ust-Ilimsk Reservoir.
• Boguchany Dam (Богучанская ГЭС) (under construction), at Kodinsk

A number of villages along the Angara and its tributaries (including the historic fort of Ilimsk on the Ilim), as well as numerous agricultural areas in the river valley, were flooded by these reservoirs. Due to its effects on the way of life of the rural residents of the Angara valley, dam construction has been criticized by a number of Soviet intellectuals, in particular the Irkutsk writer Valentin Rasputin both in his novel Farewell to Matyora and in his non-fiction book, Siberia, Siberia.