New dam for Iraq’s oil-rich Kirkuk

 

Azzaman, November 6, 2009

 

The oil-rich city of Kirkuk is going to have a new dam with a storage capacity of 39 million cubic meters of water.

 

Work on the dam has just started. It was inaugurated this week by Water Resources Minister Abdullatif Rasheed.

 

“The target is to regulate the flow of water in the Khassa River, a tributary of al-Khalis,” the minister said.

 

Kirkuk, though an agricultural province, is known more for its massive oil reserves which many believe are one of the causes for current ethnic and sectarian tensions in Iraq.

 

Iraq’s three largest ethnic groups, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, are at loggerheads over the fate of the city and whether it should be administered by the central government in Baghdad or the regional Kurdish government in Arbil.

 

Despite its huge oil riches, the city suffers from lack of clean water, mainly due to the scarcity of its water resources.

 

The minister said he hoped the new dam will store enough water to meet the city’s needs.

 

The dam is being built 10 kilometers north-east of the city. It is 1,160 meters long and 58 meters high.