Baghdad hosts key workshop on water crisis, climate change
Shafaq News/ With its gravest water shortage "since the 1930s," as described by the Ministry of Water Resources, Iraq is at an environmental and agricultural crossroads that demands urgent and strategic solutions.
Under the title of "Building Media Capacities on Water Scarcity and Climate Change Issues", the "Thamaa" (Thirst) project convened a workshop in Baghdad In an endeavor to help combat this looming predicament.
The initiative, sponsored by the al-Alamein Center for Studies in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), emphasized the dual threat of water scarcity and its confluence with climate disruptions.
Iraq's position, a top fifth among nations most severely affected by climate change, brings its agricultural, livestock, and environmental sectors under heightened scrutiny. A prime casualty of this water scarcity is the indigenous "Shalb" or "Amber Rice."
Cultivation areas of this distinct strain, exclusive to Iraq, have precipitously shrunk to a mere 5,000 dunams. The emphasis now lies in safeguarding its seeds, envisioning a resurgence in upcoming seasons.
"A tangible dip in water levels, especially in our southern territories, couples with rampant water wastage - a 20% overall, and in locales like Samarra, an alarming 60%," Minister of Reconstruction, Housing, and Municipalities, Bengen Rekani, said in a keynote speech during the workshop.
Rekani attributed this shortage to a confluence of factors: dated water infrastructures, some relics from the previous century, and networks that flaunt environmental standards with prohibited materials. The compounded effect of pipeline fractures, unsanctioned infrastructural breaches, and non-compliant usage patterns by citizens further intensify the situation.
Highlighting the administrative challenges, Rekani remarked, "Our water billing paradigm, devoid of advanced metering, hinges on rudimentary metrics such as house dimensions and room count."
However, a transformative step is underway, with the Ministry and Baghdad's secretariat initiating the installation of water meters in residences. Yet, this transition is not without its cultural impediments, as Rekani lamented, "The ingrained Iraqi ethos often conflicts with the acceptance of metered charges."
Drawing attention to the prodigious consumption patterns, he said, "In Baghdad, individual water consumption trumps the global benchmark by fourfold, and in other Iraqi jurisdictions, the overshoot is twofold."
This trend, as Rekani underscores, culminates in the misuse of potable water for ancillary applications, further strained by unauthorized infrastructural breaches.
Ammar Musa, Baghdad's secretary, highlighted during a workshop on the issue that the capital's unique demographics intensify the challenges.
"With an estimated 10 million residents, a quarter of Iraq's population resides in Baghdad alone," Musa noted, "not to forget more than 2,000 unauthorized settlements in the capital, doubling the number of residential zones and ultimately increasing demand for drinking water and volumes of sewage."
"These are among the hurdles the city's administration faces in providing services," Musa he said, "the city's outdated infrastructure, mostly established pre-2003, particularly in the 1970s, is also a major issue."
The officer said that potable water production in Baghdad has surpassed twice its 2003 levels, reaching 4.225 million cubic meters in 2023.
"Yet, some areas still suffer from water shortages, predominantly due to aging networks and unauthorized connections," Musa remarked.
"We've been operational for over 18 months, engaging experts to chart a future course, focusing on both internal and external challenges," Ibrahim Bahr al-Ulum, director of the 'Thirst of Iraq, said, announcing plans for collaborative workshops with Iranian, Turkish, and Syrian counterparts.
