Al Jazeera :
Four years ago, the stream running through Iraq’s al-Hamra village dried up. Now, “all the trees have died”, said Abdullah Kamel who used to farm citrus fruit in the village in Saladin governorate north of Baghdad.
The farmers subsequently tried digging wells but found the groundwater was too salty and not suitable for farming. “It killed the trees and all our crops,” said Kamel. Pulling a pomegranate from a nearby tree, he cracked it open on the dusty earth. Pale, crumbly seeds fell out. “The seeds are not edible,” he said.
The lands around al-Hamra, which used to be fields and orchards, have become like a desert within the space of a few years, said Kamel, with the streambed reduced to a dry ditch.”I had to leave farming,” he added. “I started looking for another job and it’s all because [of] the lack of water.”
Seven million people are at risk because of a lack of water in Iraq, according to a recent report by aid groups in the region. Rising temperatures, low levels of rainfall, and lack of access to river water are increasing the danger and severity of droughts, researchers warn.
Climate change is one of the factors that has led to desertification and drought in Iraq, said Rebrwar Nasir Dara, a lecturer in geology at Salahaddin University.He added reduced water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are exacerbating this.
Diminishing water levels in the two rivers that feed Iraq are partly attributed to numerous dam projects upstream in Turkey and Iran, countries that in turn are facing increasing water demands from their own citizens amid the climate crisis.
“The discharge of water through those rivers that originated in Iran and Turkey is now decreased by 50 percent,” said Dara.
Among the factors perceived locally to be influencing water scarcity in Iraq is Turkey’s “Great Anatolia Project”, a huge development effort decades in the making and consisting of 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric power plants on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
According to Iraqi state media, the ministry of water resources signed a joint memorandum of understanding with Turkey in October for a “fair and equitable quota” of water for Iraq.
They further added the ministry is in the process of filing an international lawsuit against Iran because of the lack of cooperation over water after talks were delayed with the Iraqi elections and the formation of the new government in Iran.
Among the factors perceived locally to be influencing water scarcity in Iraq is Turkey’s “Great Anatolia Project”, a huge development effort decades in the making and consisting of 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric power plants on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Decades of conflicts in Iraq have already devastated much of the country’s water infrastructure, with the ISIL (ISIS) conflict most recently affecting access to water for many.
