Mosul Dam : A Catastrophe yet to unfold

Mosul Dam is multipurpose earth fill dam 3.4km long, 113m in height and its storage capacity reaches 11.11 km3 of which 2.95 km3 dead storage. The dam is located on the River Tigris in the northern part of Iraq about 60km north west Mosul city. The dam was built on highly karstified alternating beds of gypsum, marl and limestone. The dam was operating in 1986 and since then, seepage problems started due to the solubility of the gypsum beds, presence of karstification and the effect of the local groundwater aquifer. To stop the seepage insensitive grouting program was put to ensure the stability of the dam. Despite the injection of large quantities of grouting material, it did not stop the seepage. The situation became worse in 2014 when ISIS occupied the dam area and grouting operations were halted. Recent evaluation of the conditions indicates that the dam is in its worst conditions. The failure models of the dam indicate that 6 million people will be affected, and 7202km2 of land will be inundated. It is believed that to stop this catastrophe, grouting operations should be continued intensively to elongate the span life of the dam. As a permanent solution, another dam should be built downstream Mosul Dam so that it can take the wave of Mosul Dam in case of its failure.Validerad; 2017; Nivå 1; 2017-04-03 (andbra)