As the dam nears full capacity
Cleanup operation at Darbandikhan dam concludes after removing 250 tons of waste
DARBANDIKHAN, Kurdistan Region — After five days of efforts, cleanup operations at Darbandikhan Dam concluded Sunday with about 250 tons of trash and plastic debris removed from the reservoir.
Located on the Sirwan River in Darbandikhan, 65 kilometers southeast of Sulaymaniyah city, Darbandikhan Dam is the second-largest in the Kurdistan Region, following Dukan Dam. It is used for power generation, agriculture and tourism.
The cleanup was a volunteer initiative led by the Vim Foundation, a nongovernmental organization, and Nature Kurdistan, an environmental group.
Osman Abdullah, mayor of the Darbandikhan district, told 964media, “For the past five days, both organizations have diligently worked to clean the waste that accumulated in the dam. The municipality supported their efforts by providing trucks.”
According to Abdullah, the collected waste was buried in designated landfill sites to prevent further environmental contamination.
This effort is particularly critical now as the dam, which has a capacity of three billion cubic meters of water, is nearly full at 98% capacity.
Saman Ismail, director of the dam, noted that this year the dam has seen a rapid rise in water levels due to substantial seasonal rainfall and runoff. “We are the only dam in the region where the water storage level has increased to this extent,” he said.
The increase in water levels, however, has also led to a surge of waste materials from tourist activities and local communities near water sources.
While the rise in water levels ensures water availability, it also poses challenges as more waste is swept into the dam from upstream sources.
Ismail added, “This year, the water volume was high enough to reactivate some previously dried-up sources, which also washed down a significant amount of garbage into the dam, including plastics and nylon.”