Kassara

The Kassara barrage is located upstream the town of Kassara 70 km south of AMARRA Town in, Missan Governorate, across Tigris River it is one of the main structures of Amara Irrigation Project, controlling the Tigris water levels for gravity irrigation. It Is A concrete Structure the construction was completed in early eighties, it includes 3 electrically operated radial steel gates each 8 m wide all can pass a discharge of 150 m3/sec at an upstream water level of 4.50 masl A Navigation Lock is provided, along with the Fish ladder located between the barrage and the navigation lock. After completion the Barrage was not used and the water is still flowing in the original river course. The barrage is important to improve navigation within this reach.

Since the completion of the structure it is not operated. The structure were Ignored and some of the gates were left open and in a very bad condition, also many of their parts are missing, the river water was not diverted completely through the structure and the original river course is left open sedimentation and lots of weeds were grown upstream and downstream the barrage as shown in the following photos. The structure is considered completely useless in its current condition. Detailed Inspection and Evaluation for the structure and hydro-mechanical equipment by qualified consultants is required, to place a complete rehabilitation program for the project, this may needs redesign, repair and replacement works.

The Barrage was constructed to complete Ammara Area Water Control and for Distribution of Irrigation water by Gravity the barrage helped in facilitating the fish immigration as well as the river navigation via its navigation lock.