The Dez Dam (Persian: سد دز) is an arch dam on the Dez River in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, Iran. It is about 26 km (16 mi) north of Andimeshk. It was built between 1959 and 1963 by an Italian consortium and is owned by the Khuzestan Water & Power Authority. The dam is 203 metres (666 ft) high, making it one of the highest in the country, and has a reservoir capacity of 3,340,000,000 m3 (2,710,000 acre·ft). At the time of construction the Dez Dam was Iran’s biggest development project. The primary purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production and irrigation. It has an associated 520 MW power station and its reservoir helps irrigate up to 80,500 ha (199,000 acres) of farmland. US$42 million of the cost to construct the dam came from the World Bank.[2][3]The impetus behind the project was totally American, organized by a brilliant lawyer named David E. Lilienthal who was one of the first three directors of the TVA, Tennessee Valley Authority which built many dams in the American south. Lilienthal convinced a group of American professionals of the irrigation value of the Dez project and organized/founded KDS, Khuzestan Development Services. These professionals consisted of American engineers, geologists, planners, lawyers, bankers and businessmen who planned, designed and hired another American company, MKI, Morrison and Knudsen International, one of the largest civil engineering and construction companies in the world, to physically build the dam. Morrison and Knudsen, in turn, subcontracted part of the building of the dam to an Italian company, Impregilo. Iranian workers played a large role in the construction as well. However, kudos should go to the Americans of KDS for, without their expertise, the dam would never have left the drawing board.
