Iraq managed to conserve 25% of its total snowmelt and rainwater income in 2022, a spokesperson to the ministry of water resources, Ali Radi Thamer, said in a press conference on Saturday.

Thamer said the ministry had approved a boost to this year’s agricultural program by adding one million dunums of superficial-waters-dependent lands.

“The total area of lands included in 2023’s program will be 2.5 million dunums,” he said.

Thamer attributed this boost to the optimal exploitation of snowmelt and rainwater income by the water resources ministry, which managed to store 25% of the country’s total income of 600 million cubic meters.

“The larger portion, 75%, was directed towards the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to irrigate the agricultural territories during the outgoing season and the lands afflicted by drought, particularly the marches,” he continued, “soon, another amount will be released to improve the water salinity at Shatt al-Arab.”

Thamer said that four million dunums would be supplied by aquifers as a part of a plan that would secure drinking water for the people and irrigation water for the orchards.