• Iber Canal – Securing the water supply and canal protection

    Client: HE Iber Lepenc JSC
    Project location: Kosovo
    Project term: 42 months
    Project start: 12/2018

Contract:

Planning and implementation services to secure the water supply and canal protection on the Iber Canal

Background

The Iber Canal is an artificial canal that was originally built together with the Gazivoda Dam, the Pridvorica compensation reservoir and an irrigation system of 20,000 ha of agricultural land over the years 1970-1980. The project was designed as a multi-purpose system, providing water for agricultural, municipal and industrial use, as well as cooling water for the nearby coal power plant. After more than 40 years of operation, the canal's concrete lining was in poor condition, resulting in significant seepage losses and leading to a significantly lower flow capacity.

Project

The objective of the project is to restore the original capacity of the Iber Canal in order to improve the water supply in central Kosovo. Around 500,000 people and various facilities in the catchment area of the canal are to be reliably supplied with clean drinking water. This is an important factor for the economic and social development of the region.

The joint venture GAUFF GmbH & Co. Engineering KG, lncoWest Ingenieure + Architekten GmbH & Co.KG, SWECO GmbH and SWECO Hydroprojekt was commissioned in December 2018 by the Kosovan Iber Lepenc J.S.C. with the design and construction supervision of the project, which consists of the following components:

1. Infrastructure rehabilitation and modernization  

This includes work to restore the transit capacity of the Iber Canal, to strengthen the canal's structural conditions against extreme events, and to enhance the operational safety of the Gazivoda and Pridvorica dams. The open sections of the canal are rehabilitated, for example, by replacing concrete, treatment of joints, repairing of abutments and aqueducts.

The construction of a new compensation and emergency reservoir in the Mihaliq area will allow the Iber Lepenc Company (ILC) to cut off the flow of the canal whenever needed to rehabilitate the underground sections of the canal or to balance water needs in case of unforeseen events. The emergency reservoir in the Mihaliq area requires an approximately 650 m long and over 30 m high earth dyke.

2. Water resources protection and management.

Selective fencing and covering of certain sections of the canal is intended to prevent pollution from waste disposal, thereby increasing the operational efficiency of the Gazivoda-Iber system and preserving the canal's water quality.

To this end, a new SCADA system will also be installed, which will include, inter alia, tools for an optimized operation plan for the Gazivoda dammed lake and its downstream compensation reservoir Pridvorica.

3. Project management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

The project management includes knowledge transfer and training of the staff of the ILC in cooperation with an expert panel for dams as well as training courses on irrigation technologies and water management.

Services

Data collection and review
Preparation of preliminary and detailed design
Technical support for the client in preparing the tender documents (technical specifications, tender texts, cost estimates)
Supporting the customer in technical questions when evaluating the offer
Construction supervision and quality assurance services
Monitoring compliance with the Environmental and Social Management Framework and the Resettlement Policy Framework
Preparation of an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and of the Resettlement Action Plan
Carrying out a dam safety analysis for the dams Gazivoda and Pridvorica.
Reassessment of the flood study for the Gazivoda dam
Knowledge transfer and training

More pictures of the project

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