Iraq News Now

A drop was recorded in the levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in southern Iraq, reflecting the severe water shortage and rationing policies of the authorities, who pledged on Sunday to take measures to address the crisis. At the center of Dhi Qar governorate in southern Iraq, an AFP photographer was in able to see the bottom of the Euphrates River visible on the banks and abutments of the bridges that cross the river. The water dossier is considered an essential and thorny issue for Iraq, a semi-desert country inhabited by about 42 million people. Baghdad repeatedly accuses its neighbors Turkey and Iran of causing a decrease in the amount of water reaching its lands, mainly due to the construction of dams on the two rivers.

Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources said on Sunday in a statement that “decreasing water quotas in some southern governorates” is due “to the lack of water revenues arriving at the Mosul Dam on the Tigris and the Haditha Dam on the Euphrates from neighboring Turkey.” This, he said, led to “a sharp decline in the country’s water supplies “. Wrong irrigation methods, according to the ministry, have also exacerbated this shortage, noting that “the farmers did not adhere to the established agricultural areas” according to the plan established by the authorities.

Abd al-Ridha Mustah Sunaid, director of water resources in Dhi Qar, said that farmers “have started overtaking and cultivating large areas that can reach many times what is foreseen in the agricultural plan”. According to the official, this has led to “an increase in water consumption from the Gharraf and Euphrates river basins, and has cast a shadow over the shortage of water in entrance”.

Iraq often faces a water shortage problem, so the authorities ration the distribution of water for various needs, such as irrigation, agriculture, consumption of drinking water and feeding the marshes of the Southern Iraq. This is done by conserving water in dams in the north of the country, which angers the southern governorates.

“This situation is temporary,” said Khaled Shamal, spokesman for Iraq’s water resources ministry, in a statement to AFP, referring to the drop in the level of the two rivers in the south. He added that his ministry would release more water from Iraqi dams in Mosul, Dokan and Darbandikhan, promising positive results “within the next two days”. With less rain, hotter temperatures and increasing desertification, Iraq is one of the five countries most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in the world, according to the United Nations.

In December, the World Bank called on Iraq to adopt a “greener” development model to tackle the climate challenge. In a report, the international organization called on Iraq to “modernize the irrigation system” and “restore the dams”. He also stressed the need to “improve water distribution and wastewater reuse” as well as to “increase reliance on smart agriculture” in the face of climate change.