"كتيّب بلاد الرافدين. المجلد II. ١٩١٧" [‎٤‎٧‎٣] (٥٤٢/٤٨٤)

CONTEOL OF EUPHRATES WATER 473
barrage. But in 1916 he expressed a preference for a point near
the Saqlawiyeh dam, up-stream of Fellujeh there is^ here an out
crop of limestone in the stream-bed, which gives a solid foundation.
The Habbaniyeh Escape would take off water above the barrage into
the Habbaniyeh depression. (For the Euphrates water alone the
Habbaniyeh Keservoir miglit be sufficient. On the possibility of
using both it and the Abu Dibs depression for the storage of the
combined excess water of the Euphrates and the Tigris, see p. 456.)
The other works which Sir W. Willcocks proposed tor the
Euphrates in 1911 might, he now considers, 4 be carried out as
designed, remembering that everything was designed for a really
poor countryBut it appears that the storage of Tigris water
either in the Tartar depression or in reservoirs at Habbaniyeh and
Abu Dibs may make it necessary to remodel the scheme for
Euphrates irrigation.
The works which he suggested may be summarized as follows
(i) The Saqlawiyeh Canal to be restored and to be used as a feeder
for a canal-system along the r. bank of the Tigris down to Kut.
(ii) A canal along the 1. bank of the Euphrates from above the
new barrage to the head of the Iskanderiyeh, feeding canals (Abu
Ghoreib, Eidhwanlyeh, Upper Melcha, Latlfiyeh) running westwards
to the depression between the Tigris and the Euphrates, which
would serve as a drain.
(iii) The Kutha Canal taking off SSE. from the Latlfiyeh, to water
the interior of the country between the upper part of the Hilla
Branch and the Tigris, towards the Shatt en-Nil. From the Kutha,
a western branch (the Babylon Canal) leading towards Hilla.
(iv) Canals along the r. and 1. banks of the upper part of the
Hindiyeh Branch, for the irrigation of the Tawarlj district.
(v) The use of the present M iot above Gurmat Ali for the irriga
tion of the Basra district. For this purpose the water in the Tdior
must be held up in low supply by a barrage at Gurmat Ali. In
order to prevent the increased amount of water behind the barrage
from spreading over so wide an area that its evaporation would
nullify the effect of the barrage, the Euphrates water, according to
this scheme, would be shut off from the Hammar Lake and the Old
Channel by a dam at Suq esh-Shuyukh, and its water would all pass
down to Gurmat c Ali, being confined on the N. by a bank from Suq
esh-Shuyukh to Kurna. This bank would run to the Hammar Lake,
along the S. side of the lake (presumably along the present line of
islands), and thence along the S. bank of the Old Channel. Thus
the Hammar Lake and the Old Channel would be fed with Tigris
water only, while the Euphrates water would be concentrated in the
(g)
>