Afrin Dam
| Afrin Dam | |
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Satellite view 5 June 2002 - dam circled
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 Location of Afrin Dam in Syria
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| Official name | 17 April Dam |
| Country | Syria |
| Location | Afrin Canton |
| Coordinates | 36°37′23″N 36°52′23″E / 36.623103°N 36.873184°ECoordinates: 36°37′23″N 36°52′23″E / 36.623103°N 36.873184°E |
| Purpose | Reservoir |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1997 |
| Opening date | 24 April 2004 |
| Construction cost | 58.2 billion Syrian pounds |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Earth fill |
| Impounds | Afrin River |
| Height (foundation) | 73 metres (240 ft) |
| Length | 983 metres (3,225 ft) |
| Width (crest) | 22 metres (72 ft) |
| Width (base) | 385 metres (1,263 ft) |
| Spillways | 1 |
| Spillway type | Half-fan |
| Spillway capacity | 1,329 cubic metres per second (46,900 cu ft/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Maydanki Lake |
| Total capacity | 190,000,000 cubic metres (6.7×109 cu ft) |
| Catchment area | 1,365 square kilometres (527 sq mi) |
| Surface area | 9.25 square kilometres (3.57 sq mi) |
| Maximum length | 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) |
| Maximum width | 650 metres (2,130 ft) |
| Normal elevation | 339 metres (1,112 ft) |
The Afrin Dam (Arabic: سد عفرين), officially 17 April Dam (Arabic: سد 17 نيسان), also called Maydanki Dam (Arabic: سد ميدانكي), is an earth-filled water storage and hydroelectric power dam on the Afrin River in northwest Syria. It provides drinking water to almost 200,000 people, irrigates about 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of olives, fruit trees and agricultural crops, and supplies 25 MW of hydroelectric power.
The dam is north of the town of Afrin in northwest Syria. It is 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the city of Aleppo and 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from the town of Afrin, near the village of Midaneka (Maydanki). A large part of the region is planted with olive and fruit trees. About 80% of the area depends on rainwater irrigation, and the remainder on wells and pumps. Before the dam was built the orchards and other crops were irrigated, but the olive trees were not. The Afrin Canton is populated by Kurds, isolated from other Syrian Kurdish regions further east.
The catchment area is 1,365 square kilometres (527 sq mi), with annual rainfall of 330 to 700 millimetres (13 to 28 in). The Afrin River originates in the south of the Kartal Mountains in Turkey, crosses into Syria where it runs through the city of Afrin, and then crosses back into Turkey. About 250,000,000 cubic metres (8.8×109 cu ft) of the annual flow of the river comes from the Hatay Province of Turkey, while about 60,000,000 cubic metres (2.1×109 cu ft) originates in Syria.
The dam was intended to irrigate land in the river valley in the region between Aleppo and the border with Turkey. The project was approved in 1984 after extensive studies by the Ministry of Irrigation. The dam would control the river flow and prevent flooding, would irrigate up to 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) of land, supply drinking water in the region, provide up to 20 MW of hydroelectric power and would become a tourist attraction.
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Wikipedia