Kurdistan’s water releases save Diyala from a thirst disaster

Shafaq News / On Friday, Diyala Governorate declared that the summer's drinking water crisis was ended and that the Darbandikhan Dam's rescue releases had helped it overcome the worst drought calamity in its history.

Diyala Water Director Murtadha Jassim al-Makdami told Shafaq News Agency, "the continued water releases from the Darbandikhan Dam towards Hamrin Lake contributed to securing drinking water for most of the purification stations and irrigation streams, and spared the governorate an unprecedented thirst disaster due to the decline in water revenues during the summer."

He added, "water storage and rain harvesting in winter and spring also secured part of the needs of water purification plants in Diyala," noting, "more than 80% of the drinking water crisis has ended."

He revealed the adoption of the rotational system in the irrigation streams in Diyala, to distribute water fairly and continuously between all the regions.

Al-Makdami also revealed an electronic follow-up for water purification plants and night operating times to ensure that drinking water reaches the whole governorate, while his department committed the stations to a daily daytime position regarding the operation of water liquefaction stations.

It is noteworthy that in 2022, Diyala concluded an agreement with the Garmian administration to feed Lake Hamrin with water releases from the Darbandikhan Dam, determined according to the water situation in Garmian.

The Director of Water Resources in Garmyan, Muayad Ahmed Shams Allah, confirmed to Shafaq News Agency that the rate of water releases from Darbandikhan to Lake Hamrin is 50 cubic meters per second and the amount of releases reaching the Lake is 15 cubic meters per second due to the need of the areas between Garmian and Diyala for water, in addition to the factors of evaporation and excesses.

Last summer, Diyala suffered from an extreme drinking water crisis due to drought and lack of water revenues from rain and floods, prompting it to build channels and install pumps from the Tigris River to feed the governorate’s main streams to secure drinking water for the purification plants.