Tabqa dam
| Tabqa dam Assadsee |
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| Coordinates | 35 ° 52 '0 " N , 38 ° 34' 0" E | ||||||||
| Data on the structure | |||||||||
| Construction time: | 1968-1988 | ||||||||
| Height of the barrier structure : | 60 m | ||||||||
| Building volume: | 46 million m³ | ||||||||
| Crown length: | 4th 500 m | ||||||||
| Crown width: | 19 m | ||||||||
| Base width: | 512 m | ||||||||
| Power plant output: | 824 MW | ||||||||
| Data on the reservoir | |||||||||
| Water surface | between 610 and 817 km² |
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| Storage space | 11,900 million m³ | ||||||||
The Tabqa Dam (also ath-Thawra Dam, Sadd al-Furat or Euphrates Dam ; Arabic سد الفرات, DMG Sadd al-Furāt ) is a dam on the Euphrates in the governorate of ar-Raqqa in Syria . Together with the resulting reservoir , Lake Assad ( Arabic بحيرة الأسد, DMG Buḥayrat al-asad ), counts it as the largest in the country.
The dam is used to generate electricity in a hydropower plant with an installed capacity of 824 MW . The electrical energy is delivered to Aleppo via high-voltage lines . The dam is also used to irrigate fields along the river as far as the Iraqi border.
history
The dam was built from March 1968 to 1974 with Soviet financial and technical assistance. From 1973 onwards, it was finally inaugurated by President Hafiz al-Assad , after whom the reservoir is named, in 1993. Lake Assad is Syria's largest lake with a maximum capacity of eleven cubic kilometers.
According to various sources, the area of the reservoir is 610, 625, 630, 674 or even 810 or 817 km². It is 80 km long, an average of 8 km wide and holds around twelve billion cubic meters. A large network of canals uses water from Lake Assad to irrigate the lands on both sides of the Euphrates. In addition, the lake supplies the city of Aleppo with drinking water and supports the fishing industry. The banks of Lake Assad have developed into important ecological zones. Due to water scarcity, the lake can often not be completely filled, which means that the planned electrical output is not achieved and the planned areas cannot be irrigated.
The dam is located at ath-Thawra , about 35 km west of the city of ar-Raqqa and 120 km east of Aleppo . The former small town of Tabqa has become part of the new, wide-street town of Ath Thawra, which was founded by displaced people from the floodplains. It is a 60 m high and - with side embankments - 4.5 km long earth embankment. In terms of volume, it is one of the largest on earth; it is around 25th place . A 250 m long overflow structure with two openings serves as flood relief .
The construction of the Tabqa dam almost led to a war with Iraq in 1974/75, because Iraq felt cut off from the water supply. In addition, Turkey holds back water with the Ataturk and Keban dams .
Lake Assad flooded a number of important archaeological sites, including the Bronze Age Emar and the tomb of Sulayman Shah . In 1973, due to the rising water of the reservoir, the grave was moved from Qalʿat Ja Dbar upstream to the bridge of the M4 near the village of Qere Qozaq, the status of a Turkish exclave was also transferred there. When the construction of the Tischrin Dam further north of the Tabqa Dam began in 1991 , the burial site was again in danger. At first it was thought about moving it to Turkey, but then it was decided to leave the tomb in its place and renovated it. The eleven soldiers guarding it came from a unit from Şanlıurfa and take turns every week.
In February 2013, the dam was captured by rebels around the Al Nusra front.
Later the dam came under the control of the terrorist organization "Islamic State" . In the course of the advance of SDF fighters and US troops on the IS stronghold ar-Raqqa , IS pretended that the dam had been badly damaged by American air strikes at the end of March 2017. On May 10, 2017, the last IS fighters withdrew and the SDF took control of the dam. Contrary to the IS claim that the dam is in danger of collapsing, an SDF spokesman announced that, after being assessed by engineers, the dam is intact and the surrounding area is therefore safe from the masses of water.
See also
- List of power plants in Syria
- List of dams in the world (Syria)
- List of the largest dams on earth
- List of the largest reservoirs on earth
- List of the largest hydroelectric plants in the world
Web links
- Agriculture - Water Resources. Chapter in: Thomas Collelo (Ed.): Syria: A Country Study. GPO for the Library of Congress, Washington 1987
- The Euphrates Dam Al Thawra Town ( Memento from February 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kaya, Ibrahim: The Euphrates-Tigris basin: An overview and opportunities for cooperation under international law , Arid Lands Newsletter Edition 44, 1998, [1]
- ↑ Jones, Milewsk, Hussein, al-Dousari, al-Kaisy, Becker: Hydrologic impacts of engineering projects on the Tigris – Euphrates system and its marshlands Journal of Hydrology, Issue 353, 2008, pp. 59–75
- ↑ Hwaida Saad and Rick Gladstone: Syrian Insurgents Claim to Control Large Hydro Power Dam . ( nytimes.com [accessed August 17, 2018]).
- ↑ www.theguardian.com March 26, 2017: AP: "Isis tells Raqqa residents to evacuate over fears nearby dam will collapse"
- ↑ zeit.de / Tobias von Lossow: When the dam breaks
- ^ Islamic State orders evacuation of Raqqa amid dam collapse fears . ( timesofisrael.com [accessed September 9, 2017]).
