While various Iraqi parties continue to bicker over their respective
shares in the country’s next government, almost nine months since the October
parliamentary elections were held, Iraq is facing a different existential
threat: Acute water deficiency.
اضافة اعلان
This water shortage could lead to the two main
rivers that have nourished one of the world’s greatest civilizations to dry up
within a few years. The land of the two rivers, as Iraq has been called for
centuries, may be closer than anyone had predicted to losing its two key water
arteries; the Euphrates and the Tigris. In fact, a report by Iraq’s water
ministry published last year said that the two rivers — which originate in
Türkiye and run through Syria and are the source of up to 98 percent of Iraq’s
surface water supply — could render the country “a land without rivers by
2040”.
Poor rainfall season and climate change have already
exacerbated Iraq’s water challenges. One Iraqi official warned that the country
has enough drinking water to last for just one more season. According to the
UN, many lakes and reservoirs have completely dried up, and the water level in
both rivers dropped by 70 percent.
Much of Iraq’s famed marches in Southern Iraq’s
Ahwar are now parched salty dust bowls.
Needless to say that the staggering decline in water
levels in both rivers has decimated farms along their banks, destroyed the
fishing industry, and turned many riverside villages into ghost towns as
farmers abandoned them and turned to the cities looking for menial jobs.
But while climate change has compounded Iraq’s water
challenge. The truth of the matter is that much of the country’s water problems
can be blamed on its two neighbors, Türkiye and Iran.
According to climate-diplomacy.org, which covers
geopolitical conflicts, Türkiye contributes 90 percent to the Euphrates while
Syria contributes 10 percent to the water flow. As for the Tigris, Türkiye,
Iraq, and Iran contribute 40 percent, 51 percent, and 9 percent, respectively.
And despite several water-sharing agreements — some dating back to the 1920s —
between Türkiye on the one hand and Iraq and Syria on the other, tensions over
quotas began in the 1960s.
Türkiye started implementing plans to build a series
of dams over the two rivers in the 1970s, but the scheme picked up in the late
1980s with the unveiling of the Southeastern Anatolia Project, which aims at
building 22 dams, thus cutting both Syria’s and Iraq’s share of water
significantly. Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the political
chaos that grappled the country for years, little was done to ensure Türkiye’s
commitment to previous deals. Meanwhile, Iran, also suffering from water
issues, began diverting key tributaries that fed the Tigris.
Much of Iraq’s famed marches in Southern Iraq’s Ahwar are now parched salty dust bowls.
With water levels dropping fast in both rivers, few
Iraqi officials were paying attention to this looming threat with its
cataclysmic consequences on millions of Iraqis. Last October, Iraq’s Water
Resources Ministry announced that the water agreement with Türkiye had entered
into force, noting that there is a real political desire on the Turkish side
for positive discussion concerning water issues. But in reality, Türkiye had
ignored Iraqi pleas forcing the first deputy speaker at the Iraqi parliament,
Hakim Al-Zamili, to threaten to pass legislation that would ban any dealings
with both Türkiye and Iran unless they responded to Baghdad’s demands
concerning its water shares. “Iran and Türkiye are killing us by cutting off
water,” he said.
Iraq’s Water Minister Mahdi Al-Hamadani announced
that he was in contact with counterparts in both countries and that Baghdad was
still waiting for a Turkish emissary to visit the country for negotiations. And
two weeks ago, Iraqi President Barham Saleh warned of “an existential danger”
threatening his country because of the water challenge. The UN had also called
on the three countries to negotiate to commit to a fair water-sharing deal.
The endemic water shortage in Iraq, made even more
difficult because of drought and climate change, has driven farmers to resort
to illegal drilling of wells and over-pumping that leads to exhausting
underground water tables, which, in turn, destroys farmlands as the soil
becomes salty. The outcome has been the shrinking of agricultural lands, which
threatens the country’s food security.
Poor infrastructure has further contributed to the
pollution of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which exacerbated the severe
shortages in the supply of clean drinking water, especially in the southern
provinces.
Without the cooperation of both Türkiye and Iran,
Iraq’s water crisis will fester, and grave socio-economic, demographic, and
environmental challenges will accelerate the country’s collapse driven by a
dysfunctional political system.
This ancient land faces the specter of dying of
thirst. And time is running out.
The writer is a journalist and political commentator
based in Amman.
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