Every day, hundreds of people gather on the edge of the Tigris River in southeast Turkey. They stand and watch as a 12,000-year-old town slowly disappears. Rising water levels from the Ilisu Dam are flooding the ancient town of Hasankeyf. Turkish government officials approved plans for the dam in 1997. It was built to produce electricity for the area. But the effects of the flooding will force out nearly 80,000 people from 199 villages. Even officials in neighboring Iraq are worried. They fear what the project will do to water supplies from the Tigris. After years of delays, the dam started filling last July. Water levels in and around Hasankeyf have already risen about 15 meters. The levels continue to rise by around 15 centimeters a day.