The Reservoir with Two Names
Kara-Burinskoye Reservoir is located in the Talas region on the border of the Manas and Kara-Burinsk districts, in the Chon-Kapka gorge. The main function of the structure is to irrigate dry lands in the Talas valley and Kazakhstan with water from the Talas River, accumulated in winter and spring. Kirov Reservoir is its second name.
Construction began in 1965 and was completed in 1975. During the Soviet era, the district centers were named the village of Pokrovka (village of Manas and the eponymous district), while the village of Kirov was known as the town of Kara-Bura (the eponymous district).
The reservoir was built in an area with a seismic hazard of 9 points. It irrigates 55,000 hectares of land. Its capacity is 550 million m³. The surface area is 2,050 hectares. The height of the dam is 84 meters. The length along the crest is 260 meters. The length of the surface is 22 km, and the width is 4 km.
For the first time in the Soviet Union, a concrete buttress dam (hollow) of a lightweight type was constructed.
In 1965, the construction of multi-story buildings for hydro builders began in the village of Kyzyl-Zhildyz (3 km north of the gorge). A production base was established in the village of Chon-Kapka, including gravel and concrete product factories. The Manas Construction and Installation Department was formed based on the Kirov Construction Management, which, after the completion of the dam, engaged in the construction of residential houses in the village of Kyzyl-Zhildyz, road construction, and improvement of the area.
A large part of the district center — the village of Kirovka (Kyzyl-Adyr) — was relocated upstream of the river. In the new location, administrative institutions of the district operate in modern buildings, a new school has been opened, residential houses, a hospital, and trade and service facilities have been put into operation.
In the planned reservoir basin, there was the village of Beysheke, which needed to be relocated to a new site. About 400 families moved to the new village of Beysheke. There, a new school, shops, and a kindergarten were also built. Simultaneously with the construction of the reservoir dam, main canals and an irrigation network were built in the irrigation area.
The fish farm, together with the water body tenants, carried out work on stocking the Kara-Burinskoye Reservoir with young carp and herbivorous fish from the Talas fish farm.
