Silveh Dam

The Silveh Dam (Persian: سد سیلوه) is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Lavin River just downstream of the village of Silveh in Piranshahr County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. The primary purpose of the dam is interbasin transfer for irrigation. Since completion, a tunnel and canals shift water from the reservoir north to the Chaparabad area. The project essentially transfers water from the Little Zab River basin to the Lake Urmia basin in an effort to help replenish the lake and irrigate about 9400 ha of farmland. Construction on the dam began in 2004 and it was expected to be complete by the end of 2015. The dam was effectively completed as of 2018. The village of Silveh will be flooded when the reservoir is impounded.

The dam is 102 m above its foundation with a length of 750 m. It has an uncontrolled spillway with a maximum discharge capacity of 1040 m3/s. The reservoir created by the dam will store 163000000 m3 of water. Near the northeastern edge of the reservoir water will be able to enter a 841 m long tunnel which will discharge it into the opposing valley, within the Lake Urmia basin. About 121700000 m3 of water will be transferred through the tunnel annually while an estimated 10800000 m3 will be sent downstream to Piranshahr during the same period.