Mosul Dam
Encyclopedia
Mosul Dam or Chambarakat Dam, formerly known as Saddam Dam (Arabic,سد صدام), is the largest dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

 in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

. It is located on the Tigris River in the western governorate of Ninawa
Ninawa Governorate
Ninawa is a governorate in northern Iraq, and the Arabic name for the biblical city of Nineveh in Assyria. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people in 2003. Its chief city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of ancient...

, upstream of the city of Mosul
Mosul
Mosul , is a city in northern Iraq and the capital of the Ninawa Governorate, some northwest of Baghdad. The original city stands on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh on the east bank, but the metropolitan area has now grown to encompass substantial...

. The hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...

 dam holds, at full capacity, about 11 cubic kilometres (2.6 cu mi) of water and provides electricity to the 1.7 million residents of Mosul. The dam has four 200-MW turbines but is believed to be producing around 320 MW. A pumped-storage hydroelectricity
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric power generation used by some power plants for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps...

 power plant with a capacity of 200 MW and a river regulating dam with a hydro power plant of 60 MW capacity belong to the Mosul Dam scheme. It is ranked as the fourth largest dam in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, measured by reserve capacity, capturing snowmelt from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, some 70 miles (112.7 km) north.

Construction

In order to bolster Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

's regime during the Iran-Iraq War
Iran-Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988, making it the longest conventional war of the twentieth century...

 and promote Saddam's Arabization
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...

 efforts in Northern Iraq, the construction of the Mosul Dam was important. Construction on the Mosul Dam began in 1980 by a German-Italian consortium that was led by Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft
Hochtief
Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft is Germany's largest construction company. It is based in Essen but operates globally, ranking as the top general builder in the United States through its Turner Corporation subsidiary, and in Australia through the Leighton Group. In 2010 it employed more than 70,000...

. Because the dam was constructed on a foundation of soluble gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...

, the engineers installed a grout
Grout
Grout is a construction material used to embed rebars in masonry walls, connect sections of pre-cast concrete, fill voids, and seal joints . Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water, cement, sand, often color tint, and sometimes fine gravel...

ing gallery that would allow continuous grouting of the dam's foundation in order to promote stability. Construction was complete in 1984 and in the Spring of 1985, the Mosul Dam began to inundate the Tigris River, filling the reservoir which submerged many archaeological sites in the region. Due to significant structural stability issues associated with the Mosul Dam, grouting and additional construction and repairs are constant. In 2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

 developed and executed a US$27 million plan to help continue maintenance and repairs on the dam in the short-term.

Concerns about potential collapse

The earthen embankment dam
Embankment dam
An embankment dam is a massive artificial water barrier. It is typically created by the emplacement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil, sand, clay and/or rock. It has a semi-permanent waterproof natural covering for its surface, and a dense, waterproof...

 is located on top of gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...

, a soft mineral which dissolves in contact with water. Continuous maintenance is required to plug, or "grout
Grout
Grout is a construction material used to embed rebars in masonry walls, connect sections of pre-cast concrete, fill voids, and seal joints . Grout is generally composed of a mixture of water, cement, sand, often color tint, and sometimes fine gravel...

" new leaks with a liquefied slurry of cement and other additives. More than 50000 tonnes (49,210.2 LT) material have been injected into the dam since leaks began forming shortly after the reservoir was filled in 1986, and 24 machines currently continuously pump grout into the dam base. A September 2006 report by the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...

 noted, "In terms of internal erosion potential of the foundation, Mosul Dam is the most dangerous dam in the world." The report further outlined a worst case scenario, in which a sudden collapse of the dam would flood Mosul under 65 feet (19.8 m) of water and Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

, a city of 7 million, to 15 feet (5 m), with an estimated death toll of 500,000. A report on 30 October 2007 by the US Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said that the dam's foundations could give way at any moment.

In 2004, dam manager Abdulkhalik Thanoon Ayoub ordered the dam's water level, which can reach 330 feet (101 m) above sea level, to have a maximum of 319 feet (97 m), thus reducing the pressure on the structure. Nevertheless, Iraqi officials maintain that the U.S. government is overstating the risk. The Army Corps of Engineers has proposed that the Badush Dam
Badush Dam
The Badush Dam is an unfinished multi-purpose dam on the Tigris northwest of Mosul, Iraq. The main purpose of the dam is to produce 170 MW of hydroelectricity in addition to managing tailwater from the unstable Mosul Dam upstream. Construction on the dam began in the 1990s and was halted...

 under construction downstream be expanded to obstruct the large wave which would result if the Mosul Dam collapsed. This has been resisted by Iraqi officials, who note that the current plan for the Badush Dam is US$300 million to provide hydroelectric power and help irrigation while the proposed expansion would cost $10 billion.

Demolition concerns during the 2003 invasion

In early April 2003, following the invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...

 by a U.S.-led coalition, military intelligence had developed several scenarios, including one in which Iraqi forces had wired the dam for detonation. This would, like a dam collapse, release the 110 metres (360.9 ft) high waterline of the lake reservoir, to reach Mosul in about two hours. Subsequent investigation found nearly 500 dam workers to still be at work nearly a month after pay had stopped being distributed, with security being provided by militia under the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan
The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan is a Kurdish political party in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded on June 1, 1975, by coordinations between Jalal Talabani and Nawshirwan Mustafa...

.

Richard A. Muller
Richard A. Muller
Richard A. Muller is a noted American professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a faculty senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.-Career:...

, a physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and JASON Defense Advisory Group
JASON Defense Advisory Group
JASON is an independent group of scientists which advises the United States government on matters of science and technology. The group was first created as a way to get a younger generation of scientists—that is, not the older Los Alamos and MIT Radiation Laboratory alumni—involved in advising the...

 consultant on U.S. national security wrote:

See also

  • Haditha Dam
    Haditha Dam
    The Haditha Dam or Qadisiya Dam is an earth-fill dam on the Euphrates, north of Haditha , creating Lake Qadisiyah . The dam is just over long and high. The purpose of the dam is to generate hydroelectricity, regulate the flow of the Euphrates and provide water for irrigation...

    , second largest dam in Iraq
  • Samarra Dam
    Samarra Dam
    Samarra Dam or Barrage and Thar Thar Dam or Barrage is a multi-purpose dam on the Tigris River adjacent of Samarra and north of Baghdad, Iraq...

    , next largest dam downstream from the Mosul Dam
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