In this study, an optimization algorithm called chaotic turbulent flow of water-based ‎optimization (CTFWO) algorithm is proposed to find the optimal solution for the optimal ‎reactive power dispatch (ORPD) problem. The ORPD is formulated as a complicated, mixed-‎integer nonlinear optimization problem, comprising control variables which are discrete and ‎continuous. The CTFWO algorithm is used to minimize voltage deviation (VD) and real power ‎loss (P_loss) for IEEE 30-bus and IEEE 57-bus power systems. These goals can be achieved ‎by obtaining the optimized voltage values of the generator, the transformer tap changing ‎positions, and the reactive compensation. In order to evaluate the ability of the proposed ‎algorithm to obtain ORPD problem solutions, the results of the proposed CTFWO algorithm ‎are compared with different algorithms, including artificial ecosystem-based optimization ‎‎(AEO), the equilibrium optimizer (EO), the gradient-based optimizer (GBO), and the original ‎turbulent flow of water-based optimization (TFWO) algorithm. These are also compared ‎with the results of the evaluated performance of various methods that are used in many recent papers. The experimental results show that the proposed CTFWO algorithm has ‎superior performance, and is competitive with many state-of-the-art algorithms outlined in ‎some of the recent studies in terms of solution accuracy, convergence rate, and stability.‎