Low water levels lead to reduced electricity production, fishing bans at Sulaimani dams

DARBANDIKHAN, Kurdistan Region - Water-short dams across the Kurdistan Region have seen dramatic reductions in their levels of electricity production, due to the dry season Iraq and the Kurdistan Region experienced last year.

Darbandikhan hydropower plant has generated its lowest level of electricity in its 65-year history because of significant water shortages, dam authorities told Rudaw on Thursday.

In the southern Garmiyan administration, Bawashaswar dam has recorded its lowest water level since it was built - leading to a ban on fishing with severe consequences for local fishermen.

The second-largest hydropower plant in the Kurdistan Region, Darbandikhan has seen a significant decrease in water levels, causing the plant to generate only 30% of the energy produced last year.

The dam depends on rainfall and water from the Sirwan River flowing from Iran, which has seen weaker flows due to Iran's dams and a lack of rainfall last year. 

“Because of a lack of water this year, we couldn't operate two turbines simultaneously. We couldn't even run one turbine at a full load of 83 megawatts [per hour, per day]. On average, we could only generate 20 megawatts,” the manager of Darbandikhan hydropower plant operations, Farouq Ahmed, told Rudaw.

According to Rahman Khani, director of Darbandikhan dam, “In previous years, we generated at least 50 to 60 megawatts of electricity.” 

Currently, the dam releases 35 cubic meters of water per second, whereas only seven cubic meters of water per second flow into the dam.

“We received only 900 million cubic meters of water this year, whereas the annual average was 4.7 billion cubic meters of water in previous years. This is a very small amount, totalling 19 percent of the Darbandikhan dam's average annual water input,” Rahman Khani told Rudaw.

The director of the dam expects that November will be a bad month for the dam's power generation. “At the moment, we are generating 30 percent of last year's electricity. We predict that this will decrease next month.”

Water shortages, sustained drought and a lack of rain have also been felt in other dams.

In the southern Garmiyan administration, Bawashaswar dam has recorded its lowest water level since the dam was completed a decade ago.

Last month, an expert warned of toxic levels of heavy metals in the water, and officials at the dam have now banned fishing there.

Currently, Bawashaswar dam releases 20 inches of water a day, but only 10 inches flow into it.

“Due to the needs of farmers, we release the water every day, but the water level has dropped significantly because there is little water in the dam. The fish in the dam are suffering because the water is contaminated and impure,” the director of Bawashaswar dam, Aziz Mohammed, explained.

He told Rudaw that the decision to ban fishing at the dam will continue until there is enough rain and water levels are restored.

A dozen fishermen in the nearby town of Kifri relied on this dam for their livelihood.

Hassan Ahmed was one of the fishermen who fished at the dam before the ban, earning money from selling fish in the local markets. Now, he has to travel three hours to fish at the Awa Spi dam, 45 kilometers north of the town.

“Fishing is our source of income. The dam officials have banned fishing until it rains. A few of us are now without work, while others go to places to fish where fishing is not banned,” he told Rudaw.

This summer, authorities in the Kurdistan Region warned of a water crisis, and aid agencies predicted that over 12 million people across Iraq and Syria risk losing access to water, food, and electricity because of this. 

In a sign of the polarising weather effects increased by climate change, the first heavy rain and storms of the year struck parts of the Region on Saturday, causing significant damage to neighborhoods in Erbil and surrounding areas.

On Sunday, Erbil's governor Omed Khoshnaw told Rudaw that around 150 to 200 houses have been affected by the adverse weather.

This weekend, the Iraq delegation arrived in Glasgow, United Kingdom, for the COP26 UN Global Climate Summit, hoping to agree to global targets for reducing carbon emissions.

Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed