Qualifying the geotechnical and hydrological characteristic of the Bandawaya stream valley - Northern Iraq

In northern Iraq, countless non-abuse stream valleys can be used to store water for a variety of purposes; domestic, supplementary irrigation, and recharging groundwater. Bandawaya is one of the stream valleys, which form the first perspective has excellent quality. The location of the suggested dam has been evaluated by hydrological and geotechnical studies. Geotechnical studies included measurement of all the parameters related to the rock mass classification for evaluation based on four classification systems, which are the Q-System, the rock mass rating (RMR), the geological strength index (GSI), and the rock mass index (RMi). The classification results indicated that the rocks of the valley are good for constructing a dam on them, with some weak zones that may affect the integrity of the dam, which the study recommended treating before starting the construction of the dam. According to preliminary studies on different dam’s heights the qualification demonstrates an excellent choice of the site. Four stream orders are recognized, dendritic pattern in the southern part of the watershed, and trellised in the northern part. Three heights assumed to the proposed dam 450, 460, 470 m a.s.l. with 640,764; 3429,787; 8,590,763 m3 storage capacity respectively. According to the Q-System, the RMR, the GSI, and the RMi, the rock mass of the study area is evaluated. The findings illustrate the excellent selection by geotechnical, hydrological, and engineering features of the dam place.