Turkey will double water flow into Iraq as drought continues
Turkey is allowing more water to flow to Iraq through the Tigris river to alleviate shortages, the Iraqi Water Resources Ministry said.
Spokesman Khalid Shamal said on Tuesday that Turkey was “releasing 1,500 cubic metres per second, doubling the previous amount”.
During a two-day visit to Turkey last month by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered flows to the Tigris to increase for a month from the Ilisu dam.
“We realise the water scarcity in Iraq but the precipitation in Turkey is at its lowest level in 62 years,” Mr Erdogan said. “We are going through a drought that is further deepening due to climate change.”
Despite that, Turkey decided to increase flow to the Tigris for a month “as much as possible to alleviate Iraq’s problem”.
Mr Shamal said the deal could be extended as “discussions between Baghdad and Ankara were still going to solve this issue fairly and definitively”.
The Turkish move will help the summer season, refresh the marshlands and increase water levels in dams.
Iraq has suffered severe environmental degradation and water scarcity as a result of climate change, high pollution and mismanagement of resources. The country is experiencing its worst drought in decades, with temperatures exceeding 50°C last summer.
Many of Iraq’s lakes have dwindled or dried up.
The country is the fifth most vulnerable in the world to climate change, the UN Environment Programme has said.
A network of Turkish dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has made water scarcity problems worse.
Iran has built dams on the tributaries that feed into the Tigris.
The rivers, which account for more than 90 per cent of Iraq’s fresh water, receive less than 30 per cent of their normal flow from Turkey and Iran, Deputy Environment Minister Jassim Al Falahi said last week.