The Tabqa Dam ( ar, سَدُّ الطَّبْقَةِ, Sadd aṭ-Ṭabqah, ku, Bendava Tebqa; syc, ܣܟܪܐ ܕܛܒܩܗ, Sekro d'Tabqa), or al-Thawra Dam as it is also named ( ar, سَدُّ الثَّوْرَةِ, Sadd aṯ-Ṯawrah, ku, Bendava Tewra; syc, ܣܟܪܐ ܕܬܘܪܗ, Sekro d'Ṯawra, literally "Dam of the Revolution"), most commonly known as Euphrates Dam ( ar, سَدُّ الْفُرَاتِ, Sadd al-Furāt; ku, Bendava Firatê; syc, ܣܟܪܐ ܕܦܪܬ, Sekro d'Frot), is an
earthen dam
An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...
on the
Euphrates, located upstream from the city of
Raqqa in
Raqqa Governorate
Raqqa Governorate ( ar, مُحافظة الرقة, Muḥāfaẓat ar-Raqqah) is one of the fourteen governorates of Syria. It is situated in the north of the country and covers an area of 19,618 km2. The capital is Raqqa. The Islamic Stat ...
,
Syria. The city of
Al-Thawrah
Al-Thawrah ( ar, ٱلثَّوْرَة, aṯ-Ṯawrah), also known as Al-Tabqah ( ar, ٱلطَّبْقَة, aṭ-Ṭabqah, also ), is a city in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, approximately west of Raqqa. The name "al-Thawrah" literally means "The Re ...
is located immediately south of the dam. The dam is high and long and is the largest dam in Syria.
Its construction led to the creation of
Lake Assad, Syria's largest water reservoir. The dam was constructed between 1968 and 1973 with help from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. At the same time, an international effort was made to excavate and document as many archaeological remains as possible in the area of the future lake before they would be flooded by the rising water. When the flow of the Euphrates was reduced in 1974 to fill the lake behind the dam, a dispute broke out between Syria and
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
(which is downstream) that was settled by intervention from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
and the Soviet Union.
The dam was originally built to generate
hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined a ...
, as well as
irrigate lands on both sides of the Euphrates. The dam has not reached its full potential in either of these objectives.
Project history
In 1927, when Syria was a
French mandate, it was proposed to build a dam in the Euphrates near the
Syria–Turkey border. After Syria became independent in 1946, the feasibility of this proposal was re-investigated, but the plan was not carried out. In 1957, the Syrian government reached an agreement with the Soviet Union for technical and financial aid for the construction of a dam in the Euphrates. Syria, as part of the
United Arab Republic
The United Arab Republic (UAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية المتحدة, al-Jumhūrīyah al-'Arabīyah al-Muttaḥidah) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 until 1971. It was initially a political union between Eg ...
(UAR), signed an agreement with
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
in 1960 for a loan to finance the construction of the dam. After Syria left the UAR in 1961, a new agreement about the financing of the dam was reached with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
in 1965. A special government department was created in 1961 to oversee the construction of the dam. In the early 1960s Swedish
geomorphologist
Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topography, topographic and bathymetry, bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological pro ...
Åke Sundborg worked as an advisor on the dam project with the task of estimating the amount and fate of sediments that would enter into the dam. Sundborg developed for this purpose a mathematical model on the projected growth of a
river delta
A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more ra ...
in the dam.
Originally, the Tabqa Dam was conceived as a dual-purpose dam. The dam would include a hydroelectric power station with eight turbines capable of producing 880 MW in total, and would irrigate an area of on both sides of the Euphrates.
Construction of the dam lasted between 1968 and 1973, while the accompanying power station was finished on 8 March 1978. The dam was constructed during the agricultural reform policies of
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 19 ...
, who had re-routed the Euphrates river for the dam in 1974. The total cost of the dam was US$340 million of which US$100 million was in the form of a loan by the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union also provided technical expertise. During construction, up to 12,000 Syrians and 900 Russian technicians worked on the dam. They were housed in the greatly expanded town near the construction site, which was subsequently renamed
Al-Thawrah
Al-Thawrah ( ar, ٱلثَّوْرَة, aṯ-Ṯawrah), also known as Al-Tabqah ( ar, ٱلطَّبْقَة, aṭ-Ṭabqah, also ), is a city in Raqqa Governorate, Syria, approximately west of Raqqa. The name "al-Thawrah" literally means "The Re ...
.
To facilitate the project, as well as the construction of irrigation works on the
Khabur River, the national railway system (
Chemins de Fer Syriens) was extended from
Aleppo to the dam, Raqqa,
Deir ez-Zor, and eventually
Qamishli. Around 4,000
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
families who had been living in the flooded part of the Euphrates Valley were resettled in other parts of northern Syria, part of a partially implemented plan to establish an "
Arab belt" along the borders with
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and Iraq in order to separate
Kurds in Syria from
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
and
Iraqi Kurdistan.
Dispute with Iraq
In 1974, the authorities started to fill the lake behind the dam by reducing the flow of the Euphrates. Slightly earlier, the Turkish government had started filling the reservoir of the newly constructed
Keban Dam, and at the same time the area was hit by significant drought.
As a result, Iraq received significantly less water from the Euphrates than normal, and complained that annual Euphrates flow had dropped from in 1973 to in 1975.
Iraq asked the
Arab League to intervene but Syria argued that it received less water from Turkey as well.
As a result, tensions rose; both governments sent troops to the
Syria-Iraq border,
and the Iraqi government threatened to bomb the Tabqa Dam.
Before the dispute could escalate any further, an agreement was reached in 1975 after mediation by Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union, whereby Syria immediately increased the flow from the dam and agreed to let 60 percent of the Euphrates water that came over the
Syria-Turkey border flow into Iraq.
In 1987, Turkey, Syria and Iraq signed an agreement by which Turkey was committed to maintain an average Euphrates flow of per second into Syria, which translates into of water per year.
Rescue excavations in the Lake Assad region
The upper part of the Syrian Euphrates valley has been intensively occupied at least since the
Late Natufian period (10,800–9500 BC).
Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European travellers had already noted the presence of numerous archaeological sites in the area that would be flooded by the new reservoir. In order to preserve or at least document as many of these remains as possible, an extensive
archaeological rescue programme was initiated during which more than 25 sites were excavated.
Between 1963 and 1965, archaeological sites and remains were located with the help of
aerial photographs, and a
ground survey was carried out as well to determine the periods that were present at each site. Between 1965 and 1970, foreign archaeological missions carried out systematic excavations at the sites of
Mureybet (United States), Tell Qannas (
Habuba Kabira
Habuba Kabira (also Hubaba Kabire) at Tell Qanas is the site of an Uruk settlement along the Euphrates in Syria, founded during the later part of the Uruk period. It was about 800 mi (1,300 km) from the city of Uruk. The site is now mostly under ...
) (Belgium), Mumbaqa (Germany), Selenkahiye (Netherlands), and
Emar (France). With help from
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
, two
minaret
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally ...
s at Mureybet and
Meskene were
photogrammetrically measured, and a protective
glacis
A glacis (; ) in military engineering is an artificial slope as part of a medieval castle or in early modern fortresses. They may be constructed of earth as a temporary structure or of stone in more permanent structure. More generally, a glaci ...
was built around the castle
Qal'at Ja'bar. The castle was located on a hilltop that would not be flooded, but the lake would turn it in an island. The castle is now connected to the shore by a causeway.
In 1971, with support from UNESCO, Syria appealed to the international community to participate in the efforts to salvage as many archaeological remains as possible before the area would disappear under the rising water of Lake Assad. To stimulate foreign participation, the Syrian antiquities law was modified so that foreign missions had the right to claim a part of the artefacts that were found during excavation.
As a result, between 1971 and 1977, numerous excavations were carried out in the Lake Assad area by Syrian as well as foreign missions. Syrian archaeologists worked at the sites of Tell al-'Abd, 'Anab al-Safinah, Tell Sheikh Hassan, Qal'at Ja'bar,
Dibsi Faraj and
Tell Fray. There were missions from the United States on
Tell Hadidi
Tell Hadidi, ancient Azu, is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Syria about 30 kilometers north of Emar and 5 kilometers north of Ekalte. It lies on the west bank of the Euphrates River on the opposite bank from Tell es-Sweyhat. It is ...
(Azu), Dibsi Faraj, Tell Fray and Shams ed-Din-Tannira; from France on Mureybet and Emar; from Italy on Tell Fray; from the Netherlands on Tell Ta'as, Jebel 'Aruda and Selenkahiye; from Switzerland on Tell al-Hajj; from Great Britain on
Abu Hureyra and
Tell es-Sweyhat
Tell es-Sweyhat is the name of a large archaeological site on the Euphrates River in northern Syria. It is located in Raqqa Governorate roughly 95 km northeast of Aleppo and 60 km south of Carchemish. Also, a Uruk site of Jebel Aruda ...
; and from Japan on Tell Roumeila. In addition, the minarets of Mureybet and Meskene were moved to higher locations, and Qal'at Ja'bar was further reinforced and restored.
Many finds from the excavations are now on display in the
National Museum of Aleppo, where a special permanent exhibition is devoted to the finds from the Lake Assad region.
Other dams in the Syrian Euphrates valley
After the completion of the Tabqa Dam, Syria built two more dams in the Euphrates, both of which were functionally related to the Tabqa Dam. The
Baath Dam, located downstream from the Tabqa Dam, was completed in 1986 and functions as a floodwater control to manage the irregular output of the Tabqa Dam and as a hydroelectric power station. The
Tishrin Dam, which functions primarily as a hydroelectric power station, has been constructed south from the
Syria–Turkey border and filling of the reservoir started in 1999.
Its construction was partly motivated by the disappointing performance of the Tabqa Dam.
The implementation of a fourth dam between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor – the
Halabiye Dam – was planned in 2009 and an appeal to archaeologists was released to excavate sites that will be flooded by the new reservoir.
Recent history
On 11 February 2013 the dam was captured by the
Syrian opposition in their
fight against the government, according to The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In 2013, four of the dam's eight turbines were operational and the original staff continued to manage it. Dam workers still received pay from the Syrian Government, and fighting in the area temporarily ceased if repairs were needed. The dam was then captured by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
in 2014. SDF efforts to retake parts of the Al-Raqqa and
Deir ez-Zor Governorates, including the area immediately surrounding the dam, began in November 2016. Interruptions in power output from the dam due to combat are estimated to have affected up to 40,000 people.
In January 2017 the Euphrates rose 10 meters due to heavy precipitation and flow mismanagement, disrupting transportation and flooding farmland downstream. A nearby
raid against ISIL by combined
SDF and US special forces also impacted the dam's entrance.
In March 2017, ISIL warned of the dam's imminent collapse after the towers attached to the dam were bombed by an American
B-52 bomber during a joint US/SDF operation to capture it on March 26, 2017. The dam had been on a U.S. no-strike list but was struck by three bombs anyway.
The bombing caused critical equipment to fail and the dam to stop functioning. One of the bombs, a
bunker buster, failed to detonate. An emergency ceasefire between the Islamic State, US forces, and the Syrian government, otherwise sworn enemies, enabled engineers to make emergency repairs to the dam to prevent it from failing
while the Turkish authorities coordinated to close the gates of dams upstream in order to prevent overtopping.
A US drone strike killed three of the civilian emergency dam workers shortly thereafter.
On March 29 a floodgate was opened by emergency workers, causing flooding downstream which displaced approximately 3,000 people. A second floodgate was opened on April 5, mitigating risk of collapse.
If the dam had failed major flooding would have extended past Deir ez-Zor, more than 100 miles downstream.
SDF forces announced they captured the dam on 10 May 2017.
Characteristics of the dam and the reservoir
The Tabqa dam is located on a spot where rocky outcrops on each side of the Euphrates Valley are less than apart. The dam is an earth-fill dam that is long, high from the riverbed ( above sea-level), wide at its base and at the top.
The hydroelectric power station is located on the southern end of the dam and contains eight
Kaplan turbines. The turbines' rotation speed is 125
RPM, and they can potentially generate 103 MW each. Lake Assad is long and on average wide.
The reservoir can potentially hold of water, at which size its surface area would be .
Annual
evaporation is due to the high average summer temperature in northern Syria.
This is high compared to reservoirs upstream from Lake Assad. For example, the evaporation at
Keban Dam Lake is per year at roughly the same surface area.
Neither the Tabqa Dam nor Lake Assad is currently used to its full economic potential. Although the lake can potentially hold , actual capacity is , with a surface area of . The proposed irrigation scheme suffered from a number of problems, including the high
gypsum
Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and dr ...
content in the reclaimed soils around Lake Assad,
soil salinization, the collapse of canals that distributed the water from Lake Assad, and the unwillingness of farmers to resettle in the reclaimed areas. As a result, only were irrigated from Lake Assad in 1984.
In 2000, the irrigated surface had risen to , which is 19 percent of the projected .
Due to lower than expected water flow from Turkey, as well as lack of maintenance, the dam generates only 150 MW instead of 800 MW.
Lake Assad is the most important source of drinking water to Aleppo, providing the city through a pipeline with of drinking water per year.
The lake also supports a fishing industry.
Environmental effects
Research indicates that the
salinity
Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...
of the Euphrates water in Iraq has increased considerably since the nearly simultaneous construction of the Keban Dam in Turkey and the Tabqa Dam in Syria. This increase can, among other things, be related to the lower discharge of the Euphrates as a result of the construction of the Keban Dam and the dams of the
Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) in Turkey, and to a lesser degree of the Tabqa Dam in Syria. High-salinity water is less useful for domestic and irrigation purposes.
The shore of the lake has developed into an important marshland area. On the southeastern shore, some areas have been reforested with
evergreen
In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...
trees including the
Aleppo pine and the
Euphrates poplar. Lake Assad is an important wintering location for
migratory birds
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting ...
and the government has undertaken measures to protect small areas along the shores of Lake Assad from hunters by downgrading access roads. The island of Jazirat al-Thawra has been designated a nature reserve.
See also
*
Water resources management in Syria
*
Baath Dam
References
Notes
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{{Authority control
Hydroelectric power stations in Syria
Dams in Syria
Soviet Union–Syria relations
Dams on the Euphrates River
Buildings and structures in Raqqa Governorate
Earth-filled dams
Dams completed in 1973
1973 establishments in Syria
Energy infrastructure completed in 1977
Soviet foreign aid
Crossings of the Euphrates
Iraq–Syria relations