Toktogul Reservoir located in the Jalal-Abad Province

Jalal-Abad Province

Jalal-Abad Province, also known as Jalalabat , is a province of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is the city of the same name, Jalal-Abad. It is surrounded by Talas Province, Chui Province, Naryn Province, Osh Province and Uzbekistan. The Jalal-Abad Province was established on November 21, 1939...

 of Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...

, is the largest of the reservoirs on the path of the Naryn River

Naryn River

The Naryn River rises in the Tian Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia, flowing west through the Fergana Valley into Uzbekistan. Here it merges with the Kara Darya River to form the Syr Darya...

. The reservoir was named after Toktogul Satilganov

Toktogul Satilganov

Toktogul Satylganov , born in Kushchusu, Kyrgyzstan was the most famous of the Kyrgyz Akyns - improvising poets and singers. His fame reached a high point in the Soviet era when his works were promoted by the state as a musician of the people and he was known throughout Kyrgyzstan simply as...

.

It was created in 1976 after construction work lasting 14 years on a dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 to flood the Kementub Valley. 26 communities were displaced and the main road through the region was re-routed. Archaeologists

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

 excavated barrows dating back as far as the 8th century AD before the sites were lost.

The Toktogul Hydroelectric Station, the reservoir's hydro-electric

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

 plant, has installed capacity of 1.2 gigawatts, which makes it the largest power plant in the country.

Towns and villages

The city of Kara-Köl, south of the reservoir (downstream from its dam) housed the dam construction workers, and currently is home to the hydro power plant staff. The city of Toktogul

Toktogul

Toktogul is an urban-type settlement in the Jalal-Abad Province of Kyrgyzstan. There are an estimated 15,943 inhabitants. It is named after its most famous son - the musician Toktogul Satilganov. It is located on the northern shore of the Toktogul reservoir. To the south, highway M41 curves around...

 is located north of the reservoir.

• Chongaryk
  Chongaryk
  Chongaryk is a small town in the Jalal-Abad Province of Kyrgyzstan. It lies just to the northwest of Toktogul Reservoir....
  
  

2009 crisis

Toktogul Reservoir reached a critical state with regard to water level with in the dam in 2009. A cold dry winter, combined with sales to foreign countries as well as increased domestic demand have left the reservoir at a fraction of its capacity. Electrical rationing is currently being employed throughout the entire country with outages lasting up to 11 hours every day.