Southeastern Anatolia Project
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The GAP Project (Southeastern Anatolia Project – Güneydoğu Anadolu Projesi) is a dam/irrigation project consisting of a series of 21 dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The project is expected to be completed by 2010 and cost $32 billion USD.
Status of the Project as of August 2000
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| Atatürk Dam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Landsat7 image of the Atatürk Dam (27 Mar 2000) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Change in Harran Plain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Landsat7 image of pre-Atatürk Dam, Harran (20 Aug 1983) | Landsat7 image of post-Atatürk Dam, Harran (24 Aug 2002) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Economic Impact | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Project
The new irrigation systems created by the GAP will double Turkey's irrigable farmland creating 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) of farmland in the Harran plain, which has fertile land but suffers from light rainfall. The project in its incomplete state has already created a significant increase in the agricultural activity. Crop yields of cotton, wheat, barley, lentils and other grains have reportedly tripled in the Harran plain as a result of irrigation from the Atatürk Dam alone. As a result, land values, personal income, number of agricultural and personal vehicles have tripled in the past eight years. The range of new products under cultivation is also expanding. Farmers are now experimenting with new varieties of fruits, vegetables, and nuts.
Aside from irrigation, the project's 17 hydroelectric power plants will supply energy equivalent to 22% of the anticipated total national energy consumption providing 8.9 billion kilowatt hours.
Atatürk Dam
Atatürk Dam was completed in 1990. It is the largest of a series of the 21 dams generating electricity for the region and irrigating the plains between the Euphrates (on which it sits) and the Tigris (to the east), Atatürk Dam is the centerpiece of the GAP project. Satellite pictures of Ataturk Dam Lake taken on 20 August 1983 and 24 August 2002 show the growth of the newly formed lake — referred to as a "sea" by some locals — covers some 817 km² (320 miles²) in total surface area.)
The GAP region consists of eight provinces in Southeastern Anatolia: Adıyaman, Batman, Diyarbakır, Gaziantep, Siirt, Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Şırnak.
The Southeastern Anatolia Project encompasses more than dams and tunnels. The purpose of the GAP is to eliminate the gap in the levels of development, income and living standards existing between the southeastern region and other regions of Turkey. The GAP is a fully integrated development project designed to create economic and social opportunities with the full support of the Turkish government. While engineers are busy with the project, Turkey promotes business development through industrial zones in each of the provincial capitals in the GAP region at a govermental level as well. It is training farmers in the most sustainable and economical land use practices. Airports and highways are being constructed to provide the necessary infrastructure for market development. Schools and other institutions are also being constructed to increase social standards of the six million people already living in the region, and for the people who will migrate to the region when business opportunities have been created. The Government's stated goal is to increase the income level in the region five-fold and generate employment opportunities for 3.5 million people.
Engineering behind the project
Providing electricity and irrigation is challenging in a region as large as the one targetted by the GAP project. A constant flow of water is imperative.
Once a constant rate of flow is available, the water can be diverted to flow through turbines to create alternating current, which can be pumped to cities across considerable distances. The Energy dissipitator (left) is the water flowing off of the turbines which are not visible but are embedded in concrete. However electricity is only part of the usage of the tons of water collected at the dam.
When dealing with tons of water, it has to be distributed evenly and slowly. Occasionally main canals will need maintenance, or may be damaged due to external reasons. In order to even asses the problem, tons of water need to be removed from the main canal. The best way to do this is to slow the overal flow from the main dam and redirect all water flowing originally to the damaged canal to backup canals, Radial gates serve this purpose: they regulate the flow of water.
After leaving the energy dissipitator, water flows into a set of main canals, which flow in different directions supplying water to a greater area. They are the most critical part of a dam project aside from the dam itself. This is like the high-voltage transmission lines in a power grids.
Sluice gates regulate the flow of water. If water flows too fast it will either overflow and probably damage one of the canals or flood irrigation fields. Multiple sluice gates regulate the speed of the flow on different sections of the canal. They can also be used like radial gates to cut water in canals.
After leaving the radial gates on the main canals, water flows to regular canals which are smaller and can carry less water. Flow regulators divert water on canals to distribution canals. Just like radial gates and sluice gates, flow generators can stop water flow if necessary. Distribution canals are the last step as far as engineers are concerned. It delivers water to different secions of large fields, like a pipeline.
It is up to farmers to get the water from distribution channels to their crops for irrigation. There are different methods to do this; any one or a combination of earth distribution channel, furrow, and drip tubes can be used.
