A significant accomplishment has been achieved in Bisha, a small city in the Kingdom that houses the country's largest dam. Bisha Dam is located about 35 minutes from the center of Bisha city. Halfway to the dam's grounds, one begins to notice low, then high rock formations. These rocky formations soon give way to hills and then mountains. The terrain is rough yet peaceful. It takes a while to realize the sheer size and magnitude of the project. The Bisha Dam is considered to be the biggest dam in Saudi Arabia. It is also by far biggest reinforced concrete dam in the Middle East. With a capacity of 325 million cubic meters, the dam's collective area consists of 7,600 square kilometers and the amount of concrete in the dam is estimated to be about 1,492,000 cubic meters with a digging area of 2,029,000 cubic meters. The dam itself is 103 meters high and 507 meters long. There are six independent tunnels which are connected to two elevator shafts functioning from the top to the lower tunnels. The project was built for the Ministry of Agriculture and Water and supervised by Al-Faisal and Axon, Riyadh, under a joint venture of Saudi and American consulting engineering firms. The valley in which the dam has been constructed is considered to be one of the most important valleys in the country because of its length and numerous branches. These valleys are: Bisha valley where Shahran, Assir and Khahtan valleys meet; Hergab valley which includes Bani Waheb and Bani Manbah valleys; Terg valley; and Tebelah valley (Bal-Karn). Bisha Valley has even been mentioned in Arabic culture because of its beauty, size and historical importance to the Kingdom. The water in the reservoir has been used for the purpose of farming. Moreover, the dam protects a large area of farmland below the dam that can be destroyed due to heavy pour of water flowing from the Asir Mountains during rainy season.
