‘Pearl of the south’ lake goes dry amid water crisis in Iraq
LAKE SAWA, Iraq — Hussam al-aqouli remembers the spot along southern Iraq’s Lake Sawa where his two daughters once dipped their feet into clear waters. Now he stands there two years on and the barren earth cracks beneath him.
This year, for the first time in its centuries-long history, the lake dried up. A combination of mismanagement by local investors, government neglect and climate change has ground down its azure shores to chunks of salt.
Lake Sawa is only the latest casualty in this broad countrywide struggle with water shortages that experts say is induced by climate change, including record low rainfall and back-to-back droughts. The stress on water resources is driving up competition for the precious resource among businessmen, farmers and herders, with the poorest Iraqis counting among the worst hit amid the disaster.
“This lake was known as the pearl of the south,” said al-aqouli, 35, a native of the nearby city of Samawa, looking out onto the dry cavernous emptiness. “Now it is our tragedy.”
Between the capital Baghdad and the oil-rich heartland of Basra, Muthanna is among Iraq’s poorest provinces. The number of those living under the poverty line in the province is almost three times the national average.
Desert expanses dominate the landscape with a narrow ribbon of farmland along the Euphrates River in the north. Economic development was hindered by the country’s turbulent history, neglect by the Baath party regime since the 1980s, then later by wars and sanctions.
Locals call the area surrounding Lake Sawa “atshan” — or simply “thirsty” in Arabic.
Formed over limestone rock and studded with gypsum formations, the lake has no inlet or outlet and the source of its waters had mystified experts for centuries, fueling fantastical folklore and religious tales that locals recite as historical fact.
Al-aqouli spent his childhood frequenting the lake with his family. He hoped he could do the same when he started a family, he said. Instead he spends his days on social media writing long blog posts and urging Iraqis to take action. Often, he feels hopeless.
The lake rises 16 feet above sea level and is about 3 miles long and 1 mile wide.
Lake Sawa appears in some old Islamic texts. It is said the lake miraculously formed on the day the Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 A.D. Thousands of religious tourists visited the site annually to submerge themselves in its holy waters, which they believe are blessed by God.
The lake’s rich mineral deposits are also considered a cure by some for skin diseases prevalent in historically neglected Muthanna.
Locals say the drying up of the waters of Lake Sawa
presages the return of the Imam al-mahdi, a revered figure in Shiite Islam and a descendant of the prophet.
“It means the end of days is near,” said al-aqouli, in jest.
For environmentalists, the doomsday predictions may not be far off.
Studies have shown the lake is fed by underground water sources through a system of cracks and fissures. It can also receive rainwater from surrounding valleys.
“The degradation of the water began over 10 years ago, but this summer was the first time we lost the entire wetland,” said Laith Ali al-obeidi, an environmental activist in Iraq.
Experts said the lake has not dried up for good, but its disappearance this year is a concerning consequence of the thousands of illegal wells dug by businessmen in nearby cement factories and manufacturing zones, a result of drought and decreasing waters along the nearby Euphrates.
By early June, some water began to reappear because farmers, done with the harvest season, stopped diverting underground water.
Lake Sawa is “a case study for climate change in Iraq,” al-obeidi said. “This is the future.”