Ialpugul Mare Dam

An earthen and concrete dam and pumping station on the Ialpug River near the village of Chirilovca in Gagauzia, impounding the Ialpugul Mare reservoir along the main road between Comrat and Vulcănești. The pump house is a long, low concrete block set directly into the riverbank, its face pierced by a row of circular intake apertures, ten openings of equal diameter running in a continuous horizontal register, now partially submerged and heavily corroded. Three remaining large-diameter steel pipes emerge from the structure at an oblique angle, collapsed and rusting against the bank, the machinery long since abandoned. Several reservoirs were built on the Ialpug in the 20th century to prevent flooding and to supply water for the irrigation of agricultural land, which occupies more than 85% of the valley's territory.