The dam of hope

Mosul, a city of over one and a half million inhabitants with a thousand-year history, also mentioned in the Bible with the name of Nineveh.
Located in the northern part of Iraq, the city is crossed by the Tigris River, one of the most important waterways in all of Anterior Asia, and is currently controlled by the Islamic State.
Not far away, about 35km to the north and along the Tigris River, is the Mosul Dam. A particularly important dam for the whole country, given its strategic position and the functions it has performed since 1986, the year of its inauguration.
Controlled by the Iraqis, the Mosul Dam represents a fundamental resource for the entire population, who see in it the hope for a better future.

The Italian ingenuity for the protection of the dam

Like all works of such complex engineering, the Mosul Dam requires continuous maintenance and various improvements to ensure its long-term reliability.
Since the end of the 80s, interventions have been increasingly numerous, but the difficult situation in the town has never allowed a complete updating of the structure.
In the spring of 2016, the Iraqi government, after years of hard work, finally managed to entrust an Italian company with the important task of carrying out the much-needed improvements.

Trevi Spa in Cesena is the company that will take care of the works on the dam that will begin this autumn. The planned interventions concern the entire structure and must ensure the safety of the entire plant, as well as a significant improvement of all its systems.
Given its importance in the production of energy (the dam supplies electricity to more than 9 million people), in the distribution of fresh water and in the possible catastrophic scenarios due to its possible failure, Trevi's task will be particularly difficult and test the Italian engineers from day one.

A high risk area

A great danger for the dam and for the workers involved in its operation is represented by the political and military situation of the area.

As previously mentioned, the city of Mosul is under the control of the caliphate, while the northern part where the dam is located is controlled by the Iraqi government.
To ensure the safety of the Italian engineers, more than four hundred Italian soldiers were assigned, distributed between the dam and neighboring settlements.

A necessary measure given the difficult situation that lies in the shadow of the dam. According to experts, those who control the dam have in their hands not only a resource of great value, but also a possible weapon to be unleashed against the population.
Its collapse would cause the total destruction of all inhabited centers, industries and fields up to the capital Baghdad, located over 350 km from the dam.
The presence of an armed defense body is therefore indispensable for the safety of the site.

Trevi Spa: Italian pride

Trevi Spa is a company founded in 1957 by Davide Trevisani.
Initially known as Impresa Palificazioni Trevisani, Trevi has been involved in the consolidation of land, construction and maintenance of complex structures and machinery for decades.
In the 90s, among the many projects, she took care of the works for the safeguarding of the Tower of Pisa and the construction of the New Library of Alexandria in Egypt, as well as the construction of the new World Trade Center in New York.
The engineers are also constantly engaged in the development of new technologies and in the search for new materials useful for optimizing any type of work.

The test bench of the Mosul Dam turns out to be yet another great challenge that the Italian company is preparing to face, but given its curriculum and the results achieved so far, the Iraqis could not hope for better for their dam and for everything. what it represents.