Assessment of water balance approach for different water supply conditions in Dahuk Dam

Abstract

Dahuk dam system is one of the Kurdistan-Iraq Government strategies to asset water supply. It is the main point for tourism and the only safe source to meet the needs of the city in difficult circumstances of water crisis between the countries of the region, Turkey, Iraq and Syria. In recent years it is observed that the dam is not fulfilling the water requirement of Dahuk city. Therefore water balance calculation of the dam system is needed to evaluate the real water problem. However water balance needs sufficient hydrologic data, which is not available in that region. Generation of sufficient hydrologic data over a long period is necessary before water balance. To ensure that the integrity of the data obtain from different sources, filling the missing data is ascertained, and regression analysis is carried out. Then water balance in Dahuk Dam will be used as an assessment for different conditions by using some scenarios and countermeasures. The Scenario setting is to select the best alternative to dam reservoir survival for mandatory water demand. By using 24 scenarios, it has been shown that the dam was unable to support water demand for irrigation purpose together with domestic water supply and tourism purpose. However by supply water from Khabour River and cancelling the irrigation project, the water level of the reservoir has been enhanced to meet up with the demand for domestic water supply, as shown on Scenario-10. Khabour water contribution should be the program priority to survive the reservoir’s goals in case of integrated water resource management at the Dahuk Dam System