The river Nogawa is a tributary of the Mogami. As the Nogawa flows from the snowy Asahi Mountains, it gets melted snow until June. The temperature of the water is very low, and is unfavourable to the rice. Being a rapid stream it often causes serious damages of the floods. For the multiple purposes of raising the water temperature, protection from floods, and at the same time to generate hydro-electricity, Yamagata prefecture constructed the dam Kanno in April, 1954, and the dam Kijiyama in November, 1960.
Based on the data of the observation of 30 years by Mr. Shibuei Shibuya, Nagai-shi, the author compared the water temperatures before and after the construction of the dams. Concerning the water temperatures of August, which is important to the rice crop, the average of ten years before the construction of the dam Kanno is 21.7°C., and the seven years' average after its building falls to 18.0°C. After the building of the dam Kijiyama, the average of the four years is 18.6°C. Accordingly, the drops of 3.7°C. and 3.1°C. are noticed. So, in order to find the cause of the fall of the water temperature, the author made a research about the distribution of the water temperatures at the dam lakes Kijiyama and Kanno.
The dam lake Kijiyama has not a device to collect the warmer surface layer water. So it takes the water from the depths of 11.6 meters to 14.0 meters below the surface, the temperatures of which range from 16°C. to 18°C. This water, then, flows into the dam lake Kanno, but, as the two-thirds of this lake is like a river on account of its deposits of earth and sand, its water temperature does not rise much. As to the dam lake Kanno, although it is devised to collect the surface water from to the depth of 4 meters, it gets sometimes the water 12 meters below the surface, the temperture of which is 16.0°C.
In conclusion, in order to raise the water temperature, it is necessary that the dam lake Kijiyama should have a proper device to collect the warmer surfaec layer water, and that the one at the dam lake Kanno should be improved.
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