Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
Despite the rains witnessed during the winter season in Iraq, the water crisis still poses a threat to the country, and there are fears of the next summer season.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Water Resources announced that the Euphrates River will dry up if Turkey continues with its water policy. As for the Tigris River, it indicated that it did not reach a specific agreement with Turkey in terms of numbers.
The Minister of Water Resources, Aoun Diab, said in an interview, “The water reserves in Iraq are small, and there is an agreement between Iraq, Turkey, and Syria regarding the Euphrates River to distribute water between the three countries,” explaining that “it was agreed to release a quantity of 500 cubic meters per second from Turkey to Iraq and Syria.” But Turkey has refrained from supplying this quantity, and what it is actually supplying is half of the agreed quantity, and there are demands from Iraq to increase the quota to 600 meters per second.
He added, “The Euphrates River will dry up if Turkey continues with this policy. Regarding the Tigris River, we did not reach a specific agreement in numbers with Turkey regarding Iraq’s share of the river’s water. An agreement was signed by Turkish President Erdogan, provided that Turkey supplies Iraq with a reasonable amount of water, but Unfortunately, the quantity has not been agreed upon.
And Diab indicated that “there was supposed to be a meeting to put an end to this issue, and we called on the presidency, ministers, and parliament to agree with Turkey regarding the quantities of water supplied to the country.”
He pointed out that “the principle of sharing the damage between the downstream and upstream countries was agreed upon with Turkey, but Turkey did not implement this principle with us, which led to the greatest damage to Iraq.”
Diab stressed that “Turkey did not open any of its dams after the earthquake disaster, because Turkey relies on generating electric power from dams, which are safe from earthquakes.”
For his part, a member of the House of Representatives, Karim Aliwi, said in an interview, “The southern regions of Iraq are going through a dangerous juncture, which is water scarcity, especially Maysan Governorate, which is considered a passage for water to Basra, and it is one of the tail areas.”
The deputy for Maysan province added, “There is monitoring by the central government through monitoring the regulators and small rivers in the province,” explaining that “many farmers destroyed their farms and dried up rivers throughout Maysan province.”
The deputy called on the central government to “provide a full share of water for the governorate, as it is an agricultural and tailing governorate.”
He pointed out that “the Kut Dam prevents water from reaching the province due to the control of the central government,” noting that “there are many popular demands to increase the province’s share of water and to pass this season as it is the season of crops.”
Yesterday, Thursday, Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani instructed us to take precautionary measures to confront climate change and the water scarcity crisis.
Al-Sudani stressed, according to a statement issued by his office, that “water scarcity is a global crisis, not limited to Iraq only, and its treatment should not be limited to the Ministry of Water Resources, and it requires decisions that are implemented quickly.”
And he indicated that “there are legal and executive solutions that depend on dialogue with source countries, on common interests, and on cooperation with international organizations in this field.”
The Prime Minister directed “the necessity of working on water management in a professional and thoughtful manner, taking precautionary measures to confront climate changes, and working on a number of remedies to alleviate the water scarcity crisis and its effects on the agricultural reality, including resorting to wastewater treatment technology and reusing it in irrigation and removing abuses.” on the waters of the rivers.
The first session of the Supreme National Committee for Water included, according to the statement, “discussing the agricultural plan and the obstacles it faces, and making a decision to grant soft loans to farmers who use modern irrigation mechanisms, by relying on sprinkler and drip irrigation.”
Earlier, shocking scenes circulated on social media showed that the Tigris River was exposed to an unprecedented drought, to the extent that citizens crossed it on foot.
Some pictures also showed the bottom of the Euphrates River visible at the banks and the abutments of the bridges crossing the river, in the city of Nasiriyah, the center of Dhi Qar Governorate.
According to the expectations of the “Water Stress Index”, Iraq will be a land without rivers by the year 2040, and the two great rivers will not reach the final estuary in the Arab Gulf, and the study adds that in 2025 the features of severe drought will be very clear throughout the country with an almost total drought of the Euphrates River. Towards the south, the Tigris River turned into a watercourse with limited resources.
