Dukan Dam Water Levels Plunge, Triggering Crisis Across Northern Iraq

Dukan Dam Water Levels Plunge, Triggering Crisis Across Northern Iraq
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Water levels at Iraq’s Dukan Dam have dropped to critical lows, raising alarm among officials and residents across the northern provinces. Currently at just 24% of its capacity, the reservoir holds only 1.6 billion cubic meters out of a potential seven billion, according to dam director Kochar Jamal Tawfeeq.

The artificial lake, created in the 1950s and located in the Kurdistan region, has seen its shoreline retreat dramatically. Satellite imagery shows a 56% reduction in surface area since 2019. Tawfeeq attributed the drop to irregular rainfall patterns and upstream damming in Iran, which has built dozens of dams on the Little Zab River, a key tributary feeding Dukan.

Winter rainfall in the area reached only 220 mm—far below the average of 600 mm—leading to failed crops and financial losses for local farmers. The crisis has affected around four million people in Sulaimaniyah and Kirkuk, where water treatment plants have reported a 40% drop in supplies. Authorities have imposed tighter rationing and are cracking down on illegal water use to ensure equitable distribution.