Water Assessment In Iraq

WATER RESOURCES ASSESSMENT IN IRAQ

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Presently, Iraq cannot be considered a country short in water supply. However, there is no doubt that intensive dams building in the upper Tigris and Euphrates that has penalized the discharge downstream the rivers and recurrent droughts, probably related to climate change, have made Iraq a “water-insecure” country and is legitimate toassume Iraq is set to face even harder water security problems in the future. Taking into account the above mentioned situation, the USAID Inma Project has prepared this paper aimed at providing an independent assessment of the current water situation in Iraq highlighting at the same time a possible strategy to coexist with water insecurity.

Iraq is divided into three river basins: the Tigris,the Euphrates, and the Shatt Al-Arab. The majority of the headwaters for the Euphrates are located in the Turkish region of Anatolia. The river begins with two tributaries the Murat-Su and the Kara-Su. The fact of having the tributaries in the extreme upper part of the basin means that a single dam in that part is capable of controlling a very large proportion of the flow of the river. The Ataturkdam in Turkey achieves this level of control. In the analysis of flow in the Euphrates River, it is necessary to consider the different stages that the river has passed marked by the construction of dams which have changed the flow regime. In the end, after the completion of the Ataturk dam in 1990, Turkey only committed itself to guarantee a flow downstream of 500 m3/s (15.8 bcm/year), shareddownstream between Syria (40%) and Iraq (60%) as agreed by the two Countries. When enforced these agreements guarantee Iraq a minimum of 10 bcm from the Euphrates River.

The contribution patterns of the Tigris River differ significantly from those of the Euphrates if contribution patterns compared. Turkey contributes around 52% of the Tigris’ flow, with Iraq contributing 48% and no contributionfrom Syria. The Tigris average annual runoff as it enters Iraq measured in the Iraq-Turkish border is 20.9 bcm and the contribution from its tributaries is of about 28.9 bcm. Iraq’s supply of water from the Tigris is much less vulnerable to development upstream than is its supply from the Euphrates River.

Iraq has a system of storage, regulation and flood control dams in both rivers and threeoff-channel main reservoirs with a total storage capacity of 108 bcm. Dam’s capacity represents 68% and 59% of the flow in the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, respectively. For this reason the Iraqi Government has plans to build a number of small to medium-size dams throughout Iraq. Although the off-channel reservoirs capacity is high, its use is limited because it is likely to increase the salinity ofthe water considerably.

The Euphrates River is facing a problem of water quality deterioration as a consequence of the return flow from the irrigated areas upstream from the irrigation projects. In the Southern part of this river, salinity is over 3,000 mg/l (approximately 5 dS/m). In the case of the Tigris River, the main problem is one of acute pollution caused by all sectors – agricultural,industrial, and municipal.

Part of the dense and complex network of barrages, canals and pumping stations needs repairs and replacements but it is also recommended planning ahead of time all the operation and maintenance activities of the irrigation infrastructure, including the establishment of monitoring centers. The entire irrigation water distribution systems in Iraq are public, that is,systems in which the government has the dominant financial interest or management responsibility/control. However, the situation is changing. The Government has started a program for transferring the responsibilities to Water Users Associations. Apart from the Irrigation Management Transfer, some other public-private partnership approaches could start being tested.

According to FAO, Internal...