If you intend to spend some time in Asia, don’t forget to wander near the pristine waters of their artificial lakes, maybe near some of the largest artificial lakes in Asia.
Contrary to what you may think, Asia (an area which, geographically follow the Caucasus Mountains, the Ural Mountain, the Caspian Sea, the Black sea and includes Russia and China) possesses numerous lakes and, in some cases, some of their artificial lakes are also wonders of nature.
We may not be as big as Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system, but our little planet Earth has a treasure that we, humans, use without thinking: water.
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Water allowed us, as a species, to develop, and to this day we can’t survive very long without it. But water is becoming one of the hottest issues of the 21st century as centuries of wasting it means that there is less H2O available for us but the world population is growing, accenting the needs for water.
Do you know what happens when water evaporate? We end up with deserts like Sahara. However, you may be surprised that Sahara is not the largest desert in the world… Antarctica is. According to National Geographic’s article, “Antarctica, a polar desert covering 5 million square miles, is the largest desert overall”. That’s because experts consider that deserts are places receiving less than 25.4 cm of precipitation per year. And well, Antarctica falls in that category.
Talking about largest, do you know what is the deepest lake in the world? And where it is located? It is Lake Baikal, situated in Russia, so in Asia. According to various sources, the bottom of this amazing lake is somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700 meters deep! It also contains, according to the UNESCO, “20% of the world’s total unfrozen freshwater reserve.” And, it is inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list since 1996.
If you are curious about freshwater lakes, and while touring Asia you find yourself in India, check our list of the 11 Largest Freshwater Lakes in India. You may even find yourself changing some of your plans to check out those great places.
Coming back to our largest artificial lakes in Asia, they may not be the deepest or the largest in the world but they still are a feast for the eyes. Can you imagine that humans manage to replicate, with many efforts, what the Earth patiently shaped during its millions of years of existence? To put together this list, we arbitrarily chose to compare artificial lakes by surface area and readily available information on each reservoir, rather than counting the catchment area. Yes, those lakes are coming with their own sets of problems (population displacements, loss of local flora and fauna, etc…) but you should still enjoy those human wonders while you can. So, let’s start with the largest artificial lakes in Asia!
15. Dhebar Lake – India
According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, the Dhebar Lake has a surface area of 50 km2. Although, in comparing different websites about surface area, some put it at 87 km2. It won’t be, by far, the largest artificial lake of this list, but its history makes it so interesting that it could not not go on our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia.
Set on the Gomati River, in the state of Rajasthan, it was built in 1685, by the then ruler of Udaipur, Maharana Jai Singh. And at the time, in the 17th century, it was one of the biggest man-made lakes in the world. Not only that but it was also built with marble. Yes, marble. The Dhebar lake or JaiSamaland lake, as it is known, also acts as a Wildlife Sanctuary so make sure you go check it out. You might even spot deer, panthers and other wild animals resting near the water.
14. Maharana Pratap Sagar or Pong Dam – India
According to the RAMSAR’s website, which the Pong Dam is a part of since 2002, the Maharana Pratap Sagar has a surface area of 240 km2.
Situated in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India, this reservoir lake that ranks 14th in our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia was built in 1975 along with a huge dam. Located on the Beas River, this lake is famous for the bio-diversity it managed to retain and particularly the numerous species of bird which come this way. If you’re a bird-watcher, this is the place to go. You may even spot, if you’re lucky, some of the endangered species which sometimes rest over there.
13. Yuqiao Reservoir – China
According to the International Lake Environment Committee (ILEC), the Yuqiao Reservoir has a surface area of 250 km2.
As we’re talking about China, not much is known about this reservoir. All we can say for certain is that the Yuqiao Reservoir, the number 13 in our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia, was built in the district of Jizhou, Tianjin, North of China, on the Jiyun He river in the 1960s. However, soon after the end of its construction, problems started to appear as the Yuqiao dam was built on sandy soil and water seeped through, forcing local populations to be displaced. Today, the quality of the water that the dam is supposed to provide for the 6 million people living in the area is a big concern.
12. Toktogul Reservoir – Kyrgyzstan
According to its Wikipedia’s article, the Toktogul Reservoir has a surface area of 284.3 km2.
Built on the Naryn River, in 1976, in the Jalal-Abad province of Kyrgyzstan, this dam is the center of many problems. In 2009, it reached a crisis state when its water levels came to be at a fraction of what they should be. Water management in the region is getting heated and dams like the Toktogul are becoming more and more of a problem being built on a river spanning multiple countries. Moreover, the Toktogul dam is part of a larger problem of dams reducing the flow of water going to the Aral Sea.
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11. Tasik Kenyir – Malaysia
According to the ILEC’s website, the surface area of the Tasik Kenyir Reservoir is 369 km2.
It is the biggest lake of Malaysia and its construction was done between 1978 and 1985 in the state of Terrengganu. It deserves to be on this list of largest artificial lakes in Asia just because it is a beautiful tourist spot and borders the National Park of Taman Negara. Malaysia managed to turn this spot into an eco-tourism destination even though it is a man-made lake in the first place. The lake itself has 340 small islands scattered across its surface, plenty of waterfalls and caves to explore with a guide and a very relax feel about it.
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10. Xinfengjiang Reservoir – China
According to The Nature Conservancy’s website, the Xinfengjiang Reservoir has a surface area of 370 km2.
It was built in the 1960s on the river Xinfeng Jiang, near the city of Heyuan in the Guangdong Province, South-East of China. The Reservoir is also part of a National Forest Park where, according to this Chinese source, the landscapes are picturesque and the water, pristine.
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9. Nam Ngum Reservoir – Laos
According to its Wikipedia page, the Nam Ngum reservoir that ranks 9th in our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia has a surface area of 370km2.
The project started at the end of the 1960s and was completed in 1984. It is barely mentioned in Tourist guides although some mentions appear here and there, so if you find yourself in Laos, go spend the day there.nLocated 90 km north of Vientiane, small islands are scattered around this vast expand of water and for the historically aware, there is even a small archeological site near for your to admire. It is possible to dive, hike and fish around and in this beautiful lake.
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8. Rihand Reservoir – India
According to the Environmental Justice Atlas, the Rihand Reservoir has a surface area of 466 km2.
Built on the river Rihand in the 1960s, in the Uttar Pradesh region, the reservoir number 8 in our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia has a few names: the Rihand reservoir or the Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar reservoir. The nearest city is called Pipri and the region remains quite rural. This reservoir is under scrutiny for pollution and water contamination. Swimming in the reservoir is not recommended, but it is possible to enjoy the scenery around the reservoir, with lush greenery forests and waterfalls scattered around the reservoir.
7. Kairakkumskoye Reservoir – Tajikistan
According to the ILEC’s website, this Reservoir which will definitely make you win at Scrabble, has a surface area of 513 km2.
It was built on the Syr Darya River in the Fergana Valley, North of Tajikistan, in the 1950s. What is most interesting about this reservoir is the river it is built on: the Syr Darya River is considered the longest river in Central Asia and passing through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan before finishing its course in the Aral Sea. Since each country took its independence in the 1990s from the USSR, water management has been an issue for those countries.
6. Qiandao Lake – China
According to this Chinas news website, the Qiandao Lake that ranks 6th in our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia has a surface area of 573 km2.
This hydropower station was the first large-scale power plant designed by China in the 1950s. Built on the Xi’nan River in the Zhejiang Province, East China, it has also become a tourist hub. Not only because of its beautiful surroundings (1,078 islands on which to relax) and pristine waters but also because what lays beneath the surface of the water.
When it was built in 1959, the old city of Shi Cheng (built, it is believed during the Tang Dynasty) was slowly submerged by what is now the Qiandao Lake. The old city remained forgotten until 2001 when a team of divers rediscovered the city. So, if you like scuba-diving and history, this is the place to go.
Who said that the largest artificial lakes in Asia were all the same?
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5. Mingachevir Reservoir – Azerbaijan
According to the ILEC’s website, the Mingachevir Reservoir has a surface area of 605 km2.
Apart from the fact that it is located in the northwest of the Sabirabad region, and was built on the Kura River, not many information are available on this particular reservoir.
It was built in the 1960s, when Azerbaijan was still a part of the USSR. And the city of Mingachevir, primarily built to support the dam and reservoir, hosted in 2015 the canoe and rowing competition of the Baku 2015 European Games. Dams and reservoirs, particularly when the river they were built on cross different countries, can create political tensions between countries. The largest artificial lakes on this list are also at the source of political tensions.
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4. Three Gorges Reservoir – China
We could not put this list together without talking about the infamous Three Gorges reservoir and dam project. According to the USGS’s website, the Three Gorges Reservoir has a surface area of 1,045 km2.
On itself, it is not the biggest artificial lake on the planet, but the scale of the project and the attention it drew landed it a place on this list of largest artificial lakes in Asia. To this day, the Three Gorges dam is considered the largest hydroelectric dam in the world. This project has been in the air since the beginning of the 1900s but real construction started in 1994 and was completed in 2008. The project has seen the forced displacement of more than a million people and environmental concern regularly emerge.
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3. Boguchany Reservoir – Russia
According to its Wikipedia page, the surface area of this reservoir is 2,326 km2.
Built on the Angara River, in the Irkutsk region. It is what is considered a recent project, completed only in 2008 even though the work had started in 1980. Because of a lack of funding, the project had to stop during 1994 and 2005. This project has elicited numerous conflicts and environmental concerns, which to this day, have not been settled.
2. Rybinsk Reservoir – Russia
According to the Britannica Encyclopedia, the Rybinsk Reservoir that ranks second in our list of largest artificial lakes in Asia has a surface area of 4,580 km2.
The whole project began in 1935, and the lake itself was completed in 1947. At the time of its construction, the Russian took pride in the fact that it was the “largest man-made body of water on Earth”. As for the Qiandao Lake, there are ruins underneath the clean water of this massive lake, built on the upper Volga River, in the Yaroslavl region, northwest of Moscow. The town of Mologa was in the way and its inhabitants forcibly relocated at the time to make way for this impressive project.
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1. Bratsk Reservoir – Russia
According to the ILEC’s website, the Bratsk Reservoir has a surface area of 5478 km2.
Situated on the upper part of the Angara River, in the Irkutsk region, it was built in the 1960s. Now, for those with a limited knowledge of Russian geography (that includes yours truly), the Bratsk Reservoir is located in the vast Siberian region. Can you imagine, in the 1960s, how difficult it must have been to pursue construction, particularly during the long and icy winters of Siberia? China, Russia, and India dominate this list of the largest artificial lakes in Asia, which shouldn’t be a surprise, since they also are large countries with massive hydro-electric needs.
Now that you know some of the largest artificial lakes in Asia, go admire this impressive man-made works when you can.
