An administrator at the Tishrin Dam, on the Euphrates River in northern Syria, said on Wednesday that the dam was put out of commission after its reservoir hit dead level, which is caused by severe shortage of water flow from Turkey.
On Wednesday, the General Administration of Dams, affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), issued a decision to put Tishrin out of service for one week.
He said, “After a meeting between the AANES’ General Administration of Dams and the Energy Office, a decision was made to suspend the Tishrin Dam for a full week, starting from today, March 1.”
On February 23, an administrator in the AANES’ Administration of Dams said that they are “seriously” discussing to sporadically halt service at the Tishrin Dam.
After reaching the dead level, he noted, the dam must be completely put out of commission. Reaching this level causes damage to the dam’s structure and turbines.
The decision came to preserve drinking water, which has the utmost priority, and to preserve irrigation water to have a good harvest season which would secure food for the region’s residents.
Hammadin stressed that there will be great damage caused by the decision. The direct impact, he said, is depriving the region of electricity.
Whether this would be done again or not is contingent on the water supply, he said.
Since February 2020, Turkey has withheld water from the Euphrates River, breaching a 1987 treaty which entails Syria and Iraq should receive 500 cubic meter per second of water. At this moment, only 200 cubic meter is being let through by Turkey.
