Parched Iraq's water resources 'down 50 percent'

Iraq's water resources have plunged 50 percent since last year, due to repeated periods of drought, low rainfall and declining river levels, a government official told AFP on Thursday.

Oil-rich Iraq, despite its mighty Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is classified as one of the world's five countries most vulnerable to climate change and desertification.

"Water reserves are far lower than what we had last year, by about 50 percent because of poor rainfall and the quantities arriving from neighbouring countries," said Aoun Dhiab, a senior adviser at the water resources ministry.

Iraq which shares the Tigris and Euphrates with Turkey and Syria, and other rivers with Iran, has often protested that their upstream construction of dams has endangered its water resources.

Dhiab also pinned the blame on "the successive years of drought: 2020, 2021 and 2022".

"This serves as a warning on how we must use (water resources) in the summer and next winter. We have to take these factors into account in our planning for the agriculture sector," said the official, who had only earlier this month voiced confidence in the country's water reserves.

The shortages and drought already obliged Iraq to halve the areas of cultivated land over the past winter season.

In November, the World Bank warned that Iraq, a country of 41 million people, could suffer a 20-percent decline in drinking water resources by 2050 due to climate change.

The Arab state ravaged by decades of conflict and sanctions needs to invest $180 billion over the next two decades on infrastructure, building dams and irrigation projects, according to the World Bank.

But only $15 million, or less than 0.2 percent, was allocated to the water resources ministry in Iraq's 2018 budget.

Related Links
Water News - Science, Technology and Politics

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

After floods, S.Africans wait hours for water amid fear of disease
Durban, South Africa (AFP) April 21, 2022
After floods ravaged South Africa's coastal city of Durban, residents queue atop a hill on a long wait for an empty water truck to return full, as fears of disease spread. But four hours later, the vehicle has still not come back to Mariannhill suburb. Fears are mounting of waterborne illnesses from supplies people have been scavenging. "Multiple people are getting a running (tummy). They don't know what the cause (is) but it is happening just after we don't have water," says Mthobisi Myak ... read more