Sulaymaniyah's Dukan Dam Hits Lowest Levels in 20 Years

Shwan MOHAMMED / AFP

Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq, director of the Dukan Dam facility, says the reservoir has been left three qua

By AFP

Water levels at Iraq's vast Dukan Dam reservoir have dropped dramatically due to diminished rainfall and increased upstream damming, impacting millions already affected by years of drought and prompting tighter water rationing.

Cracks have appeared in the retreating shoreline of the artificial lake, located in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. Created in the 1950s, Dukan Lake is now roughly three-quarters empty.

Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq, director of the reservoir, said the current reserves stand at around 1.6 billion cubic metres — approximately 24 percent of its total capacity of seven billion. "The level hasn’t been this low in nearly 20 years," he noted.

Satellite imagery analysed by AFP reveals the lake’s surface area has shrunk by 56 percent between late May 2019 — the last time it was full — and early June 2025.

Tawfeeq attributed the drop primarily to climate change and shifting rainfall patterns. This winter, the Dukan region received just 220 millimetres of rainfall, far below the typical 600 millimetres.

A secondary cause, he said, is the upstream damming of the Little Zab River, which originates in Iran and feeds into Dukan. Iran, also battling its own drought, has built numerous structures on the river to bolster its reserves.

Baghdad has frequently criticised such dam-building by both Iran and Turkey, accusing them of restricting vital water flows into Iraq through the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

With 46 million people, Iraq is considered one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and increasing desertification have compounded the crisis. At the end of May, Iraq’s national water reserves stood at their lowest in 80 years.

On the hills above Dukan sits the village of Sarsian, where 57-year-old farmer Hussein Khader Sheikhah is attempting to plant a summer crop on one hectare of land. He hopes to salvage some income with crops like cucumbers, chickpeas, and sunflower seeds after a failed winter harvest.

“I planted 13 hectares of mostly wheat during the winter,” he said. “The harvest failed because of the lack of rain — I lost almost $5,700. I can’t make up for 13 hectares with just one by the river.”
 
The water crisis at Dukan has affected around four million people in the downstream governorates of Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk, impacting drinking water access.

Zaki Karim, a local water resources official in Kirkuk, said water treatment plants have been working to cope with a sudden 40 percent reduction in supply. In a country already struggling with broken infrastructure and erratic water service, the latest drop is forcing “stricter rationing” and even more limited distribution.

“We aim to avoid total service interruptions,” Karim said. “Even if some plants face supply issues, we’ll ensure every area gets at least a minimal share.”



PUKMEDIA / AFP