Lake Afulilo

Where is Lake Afulilo?

Countries on its shores: Samoa.

Largest body of water of: Samoa.

Middle of the lake: 13.97° S, 171.55° W

The story behind it

Samoa has no natural lake of this size. Its biggest natural lake, Lanotoʻo, covers only about 11 hectares, which is about 0.11 km². So this reservoir holds the largest stretch of lake water in the country. It was made by the Afulilo Dam, a wall 20 metres high and 82 metres long across the Afulilo River, about 3 kilometres south of the village of Taʻelefaga. Work on the dam began in 1990, and in 1993 it started working. The lake holds about 10 million cubic metres of water. From the lake, the water rushes through a pipe 2.5 kilometres long down to a power station at Taʻelefaga. On its way it drops 310 metres. At the bottom it spins two turbines, big wheels that make electricity. This is the most powerful hydroelectric power station in Samoa.

Find it on the globe

Lake Afulilo is there as a small blue dot with its name, right on the water. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.