ORTO-TOKOY RESERVOIR AND CHU CANAL IN THE USSR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110196-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 196
• Publication Date: May 19, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110196-1
CLASSIFICATION ~~gSS~TT-EEy-C~~-FR-E-T
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCElAGWON REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
Economic - Irrigation projects
Daily newspapers
USSR
10 Oct 1952 - 11 Jan 1953
TNIS DOCVNENT CONnDNI IN roRN1nOR AII[rnNO TN[ NAnONAL 011[111
Of THE ORITND STATSS WITHIN THE ?GNINO Cl ^TPIONANI ACT 50
A. S. C.. I1 ALO SI, A5 AO[ND[D. Ill TIANSN1SSION OI7Nn NITLLATION
I ITS CONTRA" IN ANT NANNEN TO AN DNAUTHO:.IIIO PERSON IS PRO-
NIS1110 AT LAN. NIPIODDCnON OF THIS IOCI IL PNONISITID.
DATE DIST. )q May 1953
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
OLYTO-TOKOY RESERVOIR AND cHU CANAL IN THE USSR
/umbe.s in parenth'ses refer to appended sources)
The Kara-Kudzhir stream originates in the Tyan-Shan Mountain Range, at
the edge of glaciers, at a height of almost 5,000 meters. After joining
other streams, it becomes the Chu River, a rapid mountain river, which ap-
proaches Lake Issyk-Kul', and then makes a sharp turn west, emerging through
the narrow Boomskoye Gorge into a wide valley. The river has plenty of
water in it during July, when the ice melts in the mountains, but during
the first half of the summer, there is not enough water in the river to ir-
rigate the fields.(l)
The river reaches the fertile valleys of Frunzenskaya Oblast in Kir-
giz SSR, and some regions of the Kazakh SSR. The Great Chu Canal (Bol'shoy
Cbuyskiy Kanal), which really is only the western branch of the projected
canal, has already been completed. The canal has made possible the utili-
zation of some former waste lands, spread over 145 kilometers of Frunzen-
skaya Oblast, for agriculture. A settlement for the personnel operating
the canal was completed recently near Tokmak city. Complicated water-dis-
tributing structures are located near the settlement. Similar settlements
and water-distributing structures are under construction at other sections
of the canal.(2)
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian engineer Vasil'yev
prepared complete plans for utilizing the waters of the Chu River for ir-
rigation. The project was not started until recently, when the 19th Party
Congress directed building a dam on the river. The dam will form a reser-
voir at a point 1,750 meters above sea level; the reservoir will hold
500 million cubic meters of water. The earthen dam will be 56 meters high
and over 500 meters wide at its base.(l)
CLASSIFICATION S-E_-C-R-E-T_
NAVY NSRB _ DISTRIBUTION
AIR FBI
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110196 1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110196-1
In its upper reaches above Boomskoye Gorge and to the southeast of the
gorge, the river flows-through Orto-Tokoy Urochishche area or tract,
which is an oval-shaped depression 18 kilometers long and 12 kilometers
wide surrounded by steep rocks. The depression has two narrow crevices,
one at the, northern and the other at the southern end. The river enters
the depression through one of the crevices and leaves it through the other.
The dam will be built across the crevice which serves asthe river's outlet,
thus forming the Orto-Tokoy Reservoir.
The work on the dam is going on day and night. At present, it consists
mainly of boring a tunnel through the rocks into which the river will be di-
verted during the construction work on the dam. The dam will have a spill-
way to take care of unusual flood waters during the ice-melting season.
The construction plan for 1952 was fulfilled on 7 November. Bulatov,
chief of the construction, revealed that the volume of work planned for
1953 will be five times greater than that of 1952.
When completed, the reservoir will regulate the water flow in the river
to supply water for irrigation of the Chu valley in the Kirgiz SSR and the
Kazakh SSR at the appropriate time and in needed quantities.
The reservoir will make it possible (a) to improve water supply for
200,000 hectares which are now irrigated and (b) to irrigate 100,000 addi-
tional hectares.(2)
The Construction Administration of the Orto-Tokoy Reservoir needs
skilled workmen. Workmen are to apply to the Administration at Ortotokoy
Settlement, Balykchinskiy Rayon, Issyk-Kul'skaya Oblast, or at No 1, Novo-
Panfilovskaya Ulitsa, Frunze Uity.(3)
SOURCES
1. Frunze, Sovetskaya Kirgiziya, 11 Jan 53
2. Moscow, Izvestiya, 26 Dec 52
3. Sovetskaya Kirgiziya, 10 Oct 52
- 2 -
S-E-C-R-E-T
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110196-1