Samur-Apsheron Canal

a canal in the Azerbaijan SSR that begins at the lower Samur River in the Dagestan ASSR and ends 20 km northwest of the city of Baku, where it feeds into the Dzheiranbatan Reservoir. It is part of the Samur Hydroengineering Complex, which includes a dam 3,200 m long, a spillway, regulator sluices, and a settling reservoir. The first section of the canal, which goes as far as the Atachai River, is 109 km long and was constructed in 1939 and 1940. The second section, from the Atachai River to the Dzheiranbatan Reservoir, is 86 km long and was built between 1951 and 1955. About 250 structures have been built along the canal, including inverted siphons, aqueducts, storm drains, bridges, and the Sitalchai and Dzheiranbatan pumping stations.

Between 1960 and 1973 the canal was rebuilt to supply water for the inhabitants and industry of the cities of Baku and Sumgait. The length of the canal is 182 km. The Apsheron Canal, which is an enclosed piping system 72 km long, branches off near the Dzheiranbatan Pumping Station and terminates at the settlement of Ziria. The capacity of the Samur-Apsheron canal is 55 cu m per sec at its beginning and 25 cu m per sec at its end. The average amount of water drawn from the canal per year is 905 million cu m, of which 520 million cu m are for the irrigation of 88,000 hectares of land in the coastal lowlands and the Apsheron Peninsula, 284 million cu m are for the water supply of Baku and Sumgait, and 20 million cu m are for the fishing and fur-farming industries of the Divichi Liman.