The Badush Dam is an unfinished multi-purpose

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

on the

Tigris The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...

River, located near

Badush Badush or Badosh () is a village in northern Iraq within the Nineveh Governorate, located northwest of Mosul. Region There are some important facilities in the surrounding area: * Badush Dam which is being built on the Tigris River, located nort ...

, northwest of

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

in the

Ninawa Governorate Nineveh Governorate (; , ) is a governorate in northern Iraq. It has an area of and an estimated population of 2,453,000 people as of 2003. Its largest city and provincial capital is Mosul, which lies across the Tigris river from the ruins of a ...

, northern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. If completed, the dam's designed main purpose is to provide protection from a failure of the unstable

Mosul Dam Mosul Dam (), formerly known as Saddam Dam (), is the largest dam in Iraq. It is located on the Tigris river in the western governorate of Nineveh, upstream of the city of Mosul. The dam serves to generate hydroelectricity and provide water for ...

upstream. In addition, the hydroelectric power station would have an installed capacity of 170 MW and the dam would further regulate tailwaters from Mosul Dam.

History

In response to concerns over Mosul Dam's

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

foundation, Iraqi's Ministry of Irrigation began construction in 1988. Works on the dam ended in 1991 due to economic sanctions against Iraq. Other problems troubled construction as well, particularly lethal gas exhalation. Significant construction on the dam along with the hydro-power unit housing had occurred. The dam is roughly 40 percent complete.

Current project

Concerns over the stability of the Mosul Dam significantly contributed to recent efforts to restart construction of the Badush Dam, and possibly expand it as well. As early as December 2005, Iraq's Ministry of Water Resources was developing a project to restart construction on the dam. Currently, it would cost about US$300 million to complete the initial design but the

Government of Iraq The government of Iraq is defined under the current Constitution of Iraq, Constitution, approved in 2005, as a Democracy in Iraq, democratic, Parliamentary system, parliamentary republic with Islam as the official state religion. The government i ...

is wary of spending an additional US$10 billion to expand the dam's size in order to help mitigate a potential failure of the Mosul Dam. The current project contains a main earth-fill dam with an inclined clay core and other random fills, two saddle dams (earth-fill dams) at the left bank and a concrete dam (hollow buttress type) at the right bank. The concrete dam includes eight bottom outlets, a

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

and four power intakes and conduits, a stilling basin, headrace and tailrace channels. There is a power house, close to the concrete dam. The Badush Dam's spillway will have a maximum output of ; each hydro-power unit will have a capacity of for a total of . The bottom outlets, power station and spillway combined afford a discharge capacity of The normal reservoir level is above sea level and the maximum level is . The allowance between the normal and maximum is for flood protection from a Mosul Dam collapse. At its maximum level the Badush reservoir can hold , enough to absorb and pass a Mosul Dam wave, according to a wave study.

References

External links

{{Tigris dams Dams in Iraq Dams on the Tigris River Hydroelectric power stations in Iraq Nineveh Governorate Geography of Iraqi Kurdistan Proposed hydroelectric power stations Proposed renewable energy power stations in Iraq