JUNE 2022

FEATURE
WATER from page 21
resources are likely to have negative
effects both up and downstream.
Iran has called on Iraq to irrigate and
manage dry regions of the country
where they claim desertification has
produced newly intensified sandstorms
that blow into Iran, polluting
its own water supplies.
Acute water shortages in Iraq
threaten to increase security concerns
by impoverishing rural communities,
increasing population growth in urban
slums, and providing fertile grounds
for recruitment into Salafi jihadist organizations
like the Islamic State.
The Iraqi government threatened
to internationalize the water crisis by
submitting a formal complaint to the
United Nations if Iran continues to
limit the water. However, the government
did not follow through and failed
to formulate any viable alternative options
for dealing with Iran or Turkey.
Mismanagement and internal conflict
The deteriorating quality and declining
availability of water in Iraq
no doubt has adverse effects on the
Iraqi people. The United Nations International
Organization for Migration
reported in 2019 that 21,314 Iraqis
had been internally displaced in
Iraq’s southern and central governorates
due to lack of potable water.
Moreover, Iraqi President Barham
Salih warned that Iraq might face
a deficit of 10.8 billion cubic meters of
water annually by 2035 and that 54%
of Iraq’s arable land is under threat
because of increased salination.
Although agriculture contributes
less than 5% of gross domestic product,
it employs nearly one-third of
Iraqis who live in rural areas. Iraq’s
agricultural sector will face a severe
blow in the future because of decreased
water levels.
Given this pressure, tension between
tribes over water is on the rise.
The lack of water in southern governorates
such as Maysan and Dhi
Qar (Nassiriyah) and recurrence of
droughts are the main drivers of local
conflict. The United Nations reported
in 2013 that nearly daily incidents of
confrontations, including clashes
or verbal arguments, were recorded
in 38 locations in Baghdad alone.
And there have been water-related
conflicts among Arabs, Kurds, and
Turkmen in Kirkuk.
There has been contention at the
provisional level as well. Officials
from Maysan and Muthanna governorates
have expressed their discontent
toward governorates to their
north, saying they were taking more
than their share of water.
Iraqis have tried to leverage their
control over the water supply domestically.
The Kurdistan Regional Government
(KRG), which lies in the north
and controls much of the water flow
to other parts of Iraq, threatened to
reduce the water supply over political
disagreements with the central government
in Baghdad in 2016. The KRG
also cut the flow of water to Arab governorates
after Iran reduced the water
supply to the Little Zab River in 2018.
Despite the gravity of the situation,
the Iraqi government’s response to the
water crisis has been modest because
of inherent weakness and limited solutions.
Numerous domestic problems
have taken the government’s attention
away from formulating a viable strategy
to address water shortages. The
focus of the Iraqi government over the
past two decades has been fighting
terrorism, dealing with strong militias
allied with Iran, and tackling corruption,
thus neglecting other priorities.
For example, Iraq has lagged in the agricultural
sector, and the government
has not done enough to modernize irrigation
methods.
Depleted flows in the Sirwan are
now affecting over 8,000 acres of
farmland in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate
alone. Aside from irrigation,
it is possible that drinking water in
towns like Qalat Daza and Raniyah
in Sulaymaniyah Province will be
threatened.
Death of a lake
The Mesopotamian marshlands in
southern Iraq were once the largest
wetland ecosystem in Western Eurasia.
But after years of drought and
political turmoil, they are in danger
of disappearing.
Iraq’s Lake Sawa is no longer a
lake. It has completely dried up; this
unique water spot that was located
in the middle of the arid Muthanna
Desert for thousands of years has
disappeared. Iraqis called the salty
lake the “Pearl of the South,” and its
water contained minerals used for
medicinal purposes. The Muthanna
Province has seen 3 years of drought,
which significantly contributed to the
lake’s disappearance.
Lake Sawa existed in a closed basin,
meaning it wasn’t fed by any river
or stream, which explains a rise in
salt concentration and encroaching
sandstorms detrimental to the lake’s
existence. For centuries the lake was
home to at least 31 bird species including
gray heron and ferruginous
duck, and a hub for fishing and recreation.
Until the 1990s the water
level of the lake was normal, and the
lake turned into a tourist facility for
the people of the governorate. Now
left in its place is cracked soil and a
dry lakebed with a small pond in the
middle. Abandoned hotels and tourist
facilities speckle the shoreline.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,
a global treaty, recognized
Sawa as “unique ... because it is a
closed water body in an area of sab-
22 CHALDEAN NEWS JUNE 2022