Mtera Dam is a hydroelectric dam in Tanzania. The dam is located midway between Iringa and Dodoma on the border between the Iringa Region and the Dodoma Region. The travel time from Dodoma is about two hours on a tarmac road.

Overview

Mtera Dam is a large hydroelectric dam in Tanzania. It measures 660 sqkm at full capacity. The lake is 56 km long, and 15 km wide, and is feed by the Great Ruaha River and the Kisigo River. It was built from 1975 to 1979 for the purpose of regulating water level at the downstream at the Ruaha installed Kidatu Hydro-electric Dam. It has a capacity of 80 MW.

Ecology

The lake is considered to be one of the best places in Tanzania to observe birds, since there are approximately one million dead trees in it and it has many shallow areas. In addition, the waters are rich in fish. In the early 1990s about 5000 tonnes of fish were caught in the lake.