US EditionWater Levels Plummet at Drought-Hit Iraqi Reservoir
- Water levels at Iraq's Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted between May 2019 and June 2025, leaving the lake three quarters empty in northern Kurdistan.
- The drop resulted from climate change effects, including a 220 mm winter rainfall deficit and upstream damming by Iran and Turkey on the Little Zab River.
- The reservoir currently holds 1.6 billion cubic metres of water, about 24 percent of its seven billion capacity, causing visible shoreline cracks and affecting water treatment plants in Kirkuk.
- Zaki Karim said the drop caused a 40 percent supply reduction to treatment plants, forcing stricter rationing but assuring no total interruptions so everyone receives water.
- The shortage impacts around four million people in Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk, worsens drought-driven desertification, and caused a failed harvest with losses near $5,700 for local farmers.
11 Articles
11 Articles
The New Arab
World NewsWater levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi Dukan Dam reservoir
Water levels at Iraq's vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing. Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s. Dukan Lake has been left three quarters emp…
Al-Monitor
Water levels plummet at drought-hit Iraqi reservoir
Water levels at Iraq's vast Dukan Dam reservoir have plummeted as a result of dwindling rains and further damming upstream, hitting millions of inhabitants already impacted by drought with stricter water rationing.Amid these conditions, visible cracks have emerged in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, which lies in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region and was created in the 1950s.
June 21, 2025 Baghdad/Bassland: Iraq is facing an unprecedented water crisis that threatens to exacerbate the drought during the current year... the article appeared as a water safe at a minimum: Iraq is struggling with the ghost of thirst first on the parade.
As a result of the scarcity of landings and the construction of dams on the Iranian side of the small Zab River, the water level of the Dukan dam in northern Iraq declined by 75% this year, forcing our technology on millions of people already affected by the drought.
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