Mosul dam
| Mosul dam | |||||||
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| Coordinates | 36 ° 37 '49 " N , 42 ° 49' 23" E | ||||||
| Data on the structure | |||||||
| Construction time: | 1981-1986 | ||||||
| Height above foundation level : | 135 m | ||||||
| Building volume: | 38 million m³ | ||||||
| Crown length: | 3600 m | ||||||
| Power plant output: | 750 MW + 200 MW + 60 MW | ||||||
| Data on the reservoir | |||||||
| Water surface | 371 km² | ||||||
| Storage space | 12,500 million m³ | ||||||
The Mosul Dam (also Mossul Dam ; Arabic سد الموصل, DMG Sadd al-Mauṣil ) is the largest dam in Iraq and was called the “Saddam Dam” until Saddam Hussein fell . It is located in northern Iraq in the Ninawa province , about 40 kilometers north of Mosul (Mossul) on the Tigris .
Construction and function
The reservoir has a storage volume of more than 12 billion m³. A hydropower plant generates energy for 1.7 million inhabitants. The output of the main power plant is 750 MW. In addition to the main power plant, the Mosul dam also includes a pumped storage cavern power plant with a power plant output of 200 MW and a flow regulation stage with a power plant output of 60 MW.
The dam , completed in 1986, is an earth dam with a built-in clay core. Its length is 3600 m, the width of the dam base is 700 m and its height is 135 m. German, Swiss, Italian and Austrian companies were involved in the construction.
The dam is located in a karst area .
In 2006, the US Army engineering corps found the structure to be increasingly decaying and stated that the Mosul Dam was "the most dangerous dam in the world in terms of its potential for internal erosion". If the dam breaks below the maximum filling level, it is to be expected that, among other things, the megacity of Mosul could be flooded up to 20 m high and up to half a million people could be killed.
On November 3, 2011, a preliminary contract for the rehabilitation of the dam was signed between the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources and the German civil engineering firm Bauer AG . The order volume should be the equivalent of 1.9 billion euros. The construction time is expected to be six years.
Maintenance work has been suspended since IS militias conquered the region in August 2014 . Although the dam could be recaptured, machines and material have been missing since then.
In January 2016, the United States Department of State expressed fears that the dam could break in the spring of 2016 after the snowmelt.
Strategic importance
The dam is of great strategic importance for the region, as it enables control of the water and electricity supply for large areas on the Tigris.
On August 9, 2014, the terrorist organization Islamic State captured the dam, as confirmed by the Kurdish regional government. With the help of the American Air Force , Kurdish units were able to take back the important dam in an offensive from August 16, 2014.
More reservoirs in Iraq
- Badush Dam on the Tigris
- Bekhme dam on the Großer Zab (previously unfinished, further construction in planning)
- Haditha dam on the Euphrates
- Razzaza lake on the Euphrates
- Lake Tharthar between Tigris and Euphrates
See also
- List of the largest dams on earth
- List of the largest reservoirs on earth
- List of the largest hydroelectric plants in the world
- List of dams in the world
Web links
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- ↑ US Army warns of dam disaster in Iraq . Der Spiegel , October 30, 2007
- ↑ Why the Mosul Dam is unstable . SciLogs, January 16, 2016
- ↑ BAUER Group expects major order for the rehabilitation of the Mosul Dam in Iraq . ( Memento from April 9, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Ad-hoc announcement from Bauer AG from November 3, 2011
- ↑ Christoph Seidler: Mosul dam: "Only God knows when the dam breaks". In: Spiegel Online . January 29, 2016, accessed June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Nytimes.com , January 10, 2016, Michael R. Gordon: Neglect May Do What ISIS Didn't: Breach Iraqi Dam
- ↑ Spektrum.de , January 14, 2016, Lars Fischer: 20 meter high tidal wave: the largest dam in Iraq threatens to break
- ↑ spiegel.de , January 29, 2016, Christoph Seidler: Mosul Dam: "Only God knows when the dam will break"
- ↑ A Bigger Problem Than ISIS? In: The New Yorker. Retrieved December 27, 2016 .
- ↑ a b IS engineers repair the conquered dam . Welt Online, August 9, 2014
- ↑ Important Mosul Dam recaptured: drinking water and electricity supply for Iraq . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , August 18, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
