ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraqi authorities have put emergency plans in place to manage rising water levels in the Euphrates River after Turkey opened the spillways of its massive Ataturk Dam for the first time in seven years, Iraqi officials said on Friday.
Saad al-Mohammedi, a member of the Anbar provincial council, told Rudaw that authorities have prepared two measures to prevent damage from the expected flood wave. The first involves storing incoming water at the Haditha Dam - the first major Iraqi facility on the Euphrates after the river enters the country - before redirecting excess water to Habbaniyah Lake, around 70 kilometers east of Baghdad, at a later stage.
The developments come after Turkey announced it had opened the gates of the Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates River following heavy rainfall during the winter and spring seasons, which reportedly brought the reservoir “close to full capacity.”
To oversee preparations, Iraqi Water Resources Minister Muthanna al-Tamimi visited the Haditha Dam in Anbar on Friday.
Authorities in Anbar province on Tuesday declared a three-day state of alert over the risk of flooding from Syria, according to the provincial council. The warning came after Syrian authorities cautioned of an anticipated rise in water levels at the Euphrates Dam in Raqqa province, near the Iraqi border.
“The amount of water reaching the Iraqi borders today is 700 cubic meters per second, which is within acceptable rates,” Tamimi said at a press conference, according to a statement from his office, adding that there is no danger to residents living near the Euphrates River.
Tamimi said the ministry “have completed all technical and administrative preparations to absorb any water quantities arriving from the Syrian side, noting a complete readiness to deal with the expected water wave.”
In Syria, more than 50 out of 210 water stations were flooded on Thursday due to rising water levels in the Euphrates River, according to Syrian state media.
He added that the ministry “is in dire need for the Haditha Dam to be effective,” expressing hope that sufficient water could be stored during the flood wave to offset declining water reserves from previous years.
Iraq, a downstream country on the Euphrates River, has long struggled with water shortages due to reduced inflows from upstream dam projects in Turkey and Syria. Tensions over water resources nearly escalated into conflict between Iraq and Syria in 1974 during earlier periods of reduced river flow.
This year, however, unusually heavy rainfall has led to overflowing reservoirs and dams across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Kurdish authorities said last week that nearly all 25 dams and 180 artificial ponds in the Kurdistan Region had reached or exceeded full storage capacity, collectively holding more than 9 billion cubic meters of water.
Iraq relies heavily on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, both originating in Turkey. Turkish dam projects, particularly the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), have significantly reduced water flow into Iraq over recent decades.
Under previous water-sharing agreements, Turkey pledged to release up to 500 cubic meters of water per second downstream. Iraqi officials, however, have repeatedly accused Ankara of failing to consistently meet those commitments, often amid broader political and financial disputes between the two countries.
Hastyar Qadir contributed to this report from Erbil, Kurdistan Region.