Iraq’s water quality in decline despite record government spending, report finds

A report has shed light on the grim water situation across Iraq, 20 years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Sewage and petrochemical pollution still contaminate domestic supply in major cities such as Basra, scene of protests in 2018 after more than 120,000 people were sickened by tainted water.

The Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights on Thursday said “oil, medical waste and wastewater” were poured into Iraq’s rivers. The situation made international headlines in 2018 when a sudden drop in the level of the Tigris and Euphrates allowed seawater to encroach on waterways in the port city of Basra, where the two rivers form a third called the Shatt Al Arab.

That summer, Turkey began filling the Ilisu, the largest dam on the Tigris, which holds up to 10 billion cubic metres of water. About 90 per cent of the Tigris’s flow originates in Turkey.

The Shatt Al Arab became highly saline, preventing the effective functioning of water treatment plants. An investigation by Human Rights Watch highlighted petroleum and oil pollution in the city’s waterways.

On Wednesday, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani and promised to release more water from Turkish dams.

Officials, activists and Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources staff members featured in the report said oil was contaminating irrigation water around Kirkuk, while Diyala, home to a river of the same name, had recorded mass fish deaths due to pollution.

Last month, a UN official told The National that about half of Iraq’s schools lacked basic water, sanitation and hygiene, putting at least 7.25 million Iraqi pupils at risk of disease.

Wednesday’s report said the Iraqi government was aware of the issue. It noted that the Environment Ministry had commented on water pollution early this month blaming sewage poured into rivers without treatment.

The ministry said water treatment works in Baghdad were overwhelmed and could meet the needs of only five million of the capital city’s eight million residents. Despite record oil revenue this year, with monthly state profits frequently surpassing $10 billion, Iraq often fails to invest in critical infrastructure.

Ministries instead prioritise salaries, hiring increasing numbers of staff.

As a result, when oil prices fall there is often no budget left for capital expenditure, as happened in 2014 and during the 2020 Covid-19 crisis.

Much critical water infrastructure in Iraq has subsequently been built with aid funding.

Iraq often fails to invest in critical infrastructure. Ministries instead prioritise salaries, hiring increasing staff numbers