Nearly dry Euphrates River in Iraq
Credit: National Geographic

Iraq is in a fragile state. The country is trying to rebuild itself after thirty years of near constant war. But a new crisis has emerged that could undermine its recovery – Iraq is running out of water.

Iraq gets the vast majority of its water from two rivers; the Euphrates and the Tigris. Both run down the length of the country supplying drinking water, irrigation, and hydroelectricity to a booming population. It’s hard to imagine Iraq existing without these rivers. But today, they are in peril.

The Euphrates in Iraq is down to a quarter of its normal flow. In 2018, the Tigris sunk so low that people in Baghdad could wade across it. Where these rivers combine, called the Shatt al-Arab, became so poisonous last summer that 100,000 people were hospitalized; sparking riots in the city of Basra.