Brissa Dam
Dam (storage and irrigation), 1,750,000 m3 reservoir at normal water level; maximum ever impounded about 450,000 m3 in Lebanon.
In tender
The record
- Country
- Lebanon
- Location
- Sir Ed-Danniyeh
- Coordinates
- 34.375, 36.107
- Technology
- Dam (storage and irrigation)
- Capacity
- 1,750,000 m3 reservoir at normal water level; maximum ever impounded about 450,000 m3
- Capital cost
- —
- Stage
- In tender
- Owner or client
- Council for Development and Reconstruction
- Contractor
- —
- Operator
- —
- Finance
- —
- Award or start year
- 2024
- Commissioned
- 2009
Record last checked 2026-09-18.
History
- 2003
Construction launched
- 2009
Construction completed and first impoundment fails through seepage
- 2010
PVC membrane of about 20,000 m2 installed over the most permeable area
- 2011
Reservoir empties, seepage estimated at 30 to 40 litres per second
- 2024-09
Council for Development and Reconstruction issues tender specifications for full lining and additional water diversion
Sources
6 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- Council for Development and Reconstruction, Brissa Dam and Reservoir, Full Lining and Additional Water Diversion, Caza of Danniyeh, Tender Documents, Technical Specifications Volume II (Sep 2024). cdr.gov.lb.
- Dam construction was launched in 2003 and completed in 2009; the first impoundment in 2009 leaked so badly that water level remained only a few metres above the bottom; clay core embankment dam on karstic limestone and weathered basalt, embankment height 30 m at the upstream toe and 45 m at the downstream toe, crest about 600 m by 8 m, dam volume about 1,250,000 m3, reservoir volume 1,750,000 m3 at normal water level of 1,969 m; in 2011 inflow was so small that the maximum level reached corresponded to almost 450,000 m3, with seepage estimated at 30 to 40 litres per second.
- The owner is tendering a full reservoir lining.
- Coordinates from OpenStreetMap.
- Al Rawiya (19 Feb 2021) dates completion to 2013, which the owner's document contradicts. al-rawiya.com.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Whether the lining contract has since been awarded was not established.