Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers

Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018

Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers

Author: Patrick Cockburn
Source: Independent
Publication Date: 2 July 2018
Link: Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers

Stephan: The curtain rises on the water wars. Water is destiny, as we are going to learn, like it or not.

The Tigris River as it winds through Baghdad Credit: Getty

“I once rescued a friend from drowning when he was swept away by the force of the current as we were swimming in the Diyala river,” says Qasim Sabti, a painter and gallery owner in Baghdad.

“That was 50 years ago,” he recalls. “I went back there recently and the water in the Diyala is so shallow today that a man could walk across it with his dog.”

The rivers of Iraq, above all the Tigris and Euphrates, are drying up. The country is becoming more arid, and desertification is eating into the limited amount of agricultural land.

Dams built upriver in Turkey, Syria and Iran since the 1970s have reduced the flow of water that reaches Iraq by as much as half and the situation is about to get worse.