The shores of Dukan Lake. Photo by 964media
Heavy rains lift Kurdistan Region dams, restart power generation at Dukan
ERBIL — Heavy rainfall over the past 10 days has sharply improved water levels at major dams across the Kurdistan Region and enabled the restart of electricity generation at Dukan Dam, according to new data obtained by 964media.
The rainfall that began after Dec. 8 produced clear gains through Dec. 17, reversing weeks of decline and boosting inflows to key reservoirs.
Dukan Dam
Dukan, which has a storage capacity of 7 billion cubic meters, recorded the strongest rise in inflow and storage and resumed hydropower production after output had fallen to zero.
Water levels at Dukan rose from 477.51 meters on Dec. 8 to 479.18 meters on Dec. 17, an increase of 1.67 meters. Stored water increased from 0.9653 billion cubic meters to 1.0878 billion cubic meters. Inflow rose from 19 cubic meters per second to 64 cubic meters per second. Electricity generation resumed at 8 megawatts.
Rainfall in the Dukan area measured 234.8 millimeters during the period. Despite the gains, the remaining storage gap at the reservoir stands at about 5.7 billion cubic meters.
Darbandikhan Dam
Darbandikhan, with a capacity of 3 billion cubic meters, recorded the largest rise in water level during the period.
Water levels rose from 465.57 meters on Dec. 8 to 468.78 meters on Dec. 17, an increase of 3.21 meters. Stored water increased from 1.1592 billion cubic meters to 1.2666 billion cubic meters. Inflow rose from 17 cubic meters per second to 55 cubic meters per second. Power generation increased from 9 megawatts to 12 megawatts.
Rainfall in the Darbandikhan area reached 333 millimeters.
Duhok Dam
Duhok Dam recorded more modest gains, but the data showed an end to declining levels. Water levels rose from 604.98 meters to 605.10 meters, an increase of 12 centimeters. Rainfall in the Duhok area measured 140.6 millimeters.
The recovery comes after destructive storms across the Kurdistan Region caused flooding, deaths and damage, particularly in Chamchamal district. Officials have said the same system added more than 100 million cubic meters of water to Dukan and Darbandikhan and eased pressure on reservoirs that entered winter at critically low levels after prolonged drought.
