Latakia-SANA
The Main Irrigation Committee in Lattakia Governorate decided to start watering cycles for agricultural lands from irrigation networks from dams, starting from the 21st of this month.
The Director of Water Resources, Firas Haidar, explained to SANA reporter that the Tishreen 16 dam will be opened as of May 21, 5 days before the start of irrigation from the networks of the Al-Thawra dam, which will start irrigation from its networks on the 26th of this current May to monitor malfunctions that may occur and follow up on their repair.
Haidar indicated that the irrigation networks from the Baluran Dam will be opened to give the first cycle starting from the 21st of May as well and for a period of 10 days, while the Al-Safarqiya dam will be opened from the 26th of May.
Haider indicated that the irrigation cycle will be monitored in the Jableh plain from the Al-Sin River and the Al-Hawaiz Dam after it was stopped due to the rains that fell on the fifth of this month, pointing out that the small surface dams in the governorate will be opened upon request in coordination between the extension units, agricultural associations and heads of irrigation groups.
On the volume of water storage of dams in the province, Haidar explained that the storage rate in the province's dams amounted to 89.81 percent, equivalent to 329.127 million cubic meters of the total storage volume of 366 million cubic meters.
According to Haider, the Tishreen 16 dam is considered the largest dam in the governorate, with a storage volume of 210.666 million cubic meters, and it is filled with a water supply estimated at 0.8 cubic meters per second, indicating that through this storage, 5 full irrigations can be given in the event of a need to irrigate an area of an estimated 21 thousand hectares and a duration The irrigation cycle is about 25 days, with an amount ranging between 20 and 25 million cubic meters per cycle.
Haidar indicated that the current storage volume of the Al-Thawra dam is 66.280 million cubic meters, and 4 full irrigations can be given from it for a period of 15 to 20 days, with a quantity of 9 to 10 million cubic meters per cycle, to irrigate an area of 8250 hectares.
Regarding the Baluran dam, Haidar indicated that it is currently filled with a total storage volume of 15.5 million cubic meters, and it can be given 7 to 8 irrigations for a period of 10 to 12 days to irrigate an area of about 1,400 hectares, while the current storage volume of the Safarqiya dam is 9.6 million cubic meters, indicating that it can be given More than 5 irrigations of it each for 15 days to irrigate an area of about 1500 hectares.
Haider confirmed that maintenance has been carried out for the exposed faults, and the faults that will appear after the start of irrigation will be addressed, and work is currently being done to fix the fault in the Tishreen Dam tunnel, and irrigation water will be pumped through it with the completion of maintenance work.
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