After two months out of service, al-Balikh canal irrigates 30,000 hectares in Raqqa countryside again

Raqqa – North-Press Agency
Ahmed al-Hassan

The Agriculture Committee of Raqqa Civil Council completed the rehabilitation of regulators on the al-Balikh irrigation canal after a water outage which lasted for two months and five days.

The Operations Department of the Agriculture Committee completed the project in collaboration with the Italian organization Mar Fram, and five regulators were rehabilitated during the season. On Tuesday, a regulator was put into service at the village of Kabish Gharbi, 40 km west of Raqqa city, so that the farmers could begin irrigating their fields.

Sheikh Nabi Khalil, head of the Operations Department that is responsible for the maintenance process, said that the remaining regulators will be put in service during the next few days until the last regulator is rehabilitated in the village of Abu Wahl, 40km northeast of Raqqa.

Khalil also stated that the five regulators had been fully repaired, with the exception of Abu Wahl regulator, which had not been completed due to time constraints; its rehabilitation was limited to preparing turbines without rehabilitating the bridge above it.

There are 13 regulators in al-Balikh irrigation canal, six of which were rehabilitated last season. The remaining five regulators will be completed this year.

The five regulators are located in the village of al-Salhabiya, 25km west of Raqqa, Kabish Gharbi 40 km northwest of Raqqa, al-Zahira 35km north of Raqqa, Tal al-Samen 30km north of Raqqa, and Abu Wahl 40km northeast of Raqqa. These are in addition to the regulator of al-Kalta, 35km north of Raqqa, which is not damaged.

These 13 regulators are distributed along the canal, which is 160 km long and stretches from the city of Tabqa, west of Raqqa, to the village of Matab al-Buhamid in the western countryside of Deir ez-Zor. It irrigates more than 30,000 hectares of agricultural lands on both sides of the channel.

Khalil said: "With these regulators, we can deliver water to the farthest point without any waste."

It is noteworthy that the irrigation canal of al-Balikh is considered the main nerve of agriculture in Raqqa, a region in which 80% of its population depends on agriculture as a source of income.