Owen Falls Dam

Owen Falls Dam
View from top of dam
Location of Owen Falls Dam in Uganda
Country	Uganda
Location	Jinja
Coordinates	00°26′37″N 33°11′06″E / 0.44361°N 33.18500°E / 0.44361; 33.18500Coordinates: 00°26′37″N 33°11′06″E / 0.44361°N 33.18500°E / 0.44361; 33.18500
Purpose	Power
Status	Operational
Opening date	1954
Dam and spillways
Impounds	White Nile
Power station
Name	Nalubaale Power Station
Operator(s)	ESKOM Uganda
Installed capacity	180 MW (240,000 hp)

Nalubaale Power Station, formerly known as Owen Falls Dam, is a hydroelectric power station across the White Nile near to its source at Lake Victoria in Uganda. Nalubaale is the Luganda name for Lake Victoria.

The dam sits across the Nile River between the town of Jinja, in Jinja District and the town of Njeru in Buikwe District, approximately 85 kilometres (53 mi), by road, east of Kampala, Uganda's capital and largest city.

In 1947, Charles Redvers Westlake, an English engineer, reported to the Colonial Government of Uganda recommending the construction of a hydroelectric dam at Owen Falls near the city of Jinja. This led to the establishment of the Uganda Electricity Board (UEB), with Westlake as its first chairman. The consultant engineer on the project was Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners. The dam was completed in 1954, submerging Ripon Falls. It supplies electricity to Uganda and parts of neighbouring Kenya and Tanzania. Maintenance and availability of the station declined seriously during the government of Idi Amin.

Before the construction of the dam, water levels on Lake Victoria were moderated by a natural rock dam on the north side of the lake. Rising lake waters would spill over the natural dam into the White Nile, which flows through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. When water levels dropped too low, flow into the river ceased. When the current dam was built, a treaty between Uganda and Egypt ensured that the natural flow of the Nile would not be altered by the dam.