ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - After recent heavy rains, water levels in Kurdistan Region’s dams are significantly higher than the same time last year, an official told Rudaw on Saturday. Around six billion cubic meters of water are currently held in the dams, which is 1.8 billion cubic meters more compared to this time last year, Rahman Khani, head of the general dam directorate, told Rudaw’s Soran Hussein. There are three large dams and 20 small and medium sized dams in the Kurdistan Region. The three largest dams: Dukan, Darbandikhan, and Duhok have a combined capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of water. The volume in Dukan dam, which has a capacity of seven billion cubic meters of water, is 650 million cubic meters more than it was last year, according to Khani, while Darbandikhan dam is close to reaching its capacity of three billion cubic meters. The increased rainfall in Sulaimani’s Raparin administration has led to rising water levels both on the surface and underground, according to Sparda Mohammed, head of Raparin’s water resources directorate. There are plans to construct seven more dams in Raparin, part of the government’s focus on dams in its water management strategy as it grapples with the impact of climate change. Begard Talabani, agriculture and water resources minister, said in February that the ministry has built eight medium-size dams in the past four years, which have greatly contributed to the rainwater harvesting. Another 11 dams are under construction. Iraq’s water resources ministry is planning to build more than 35 dams across the country in 2024 in an attempt to combat worsening drought and water scarcity. A spokesperson for the ministry said last August that Iraq’s water reserves are at the lowest in the country’s history.
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