KRG to discuss water shortage with Turkey, Iran: statement

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced a new plan to fight water scarcity in the Region, which includes meeting with Turkish and Iranian authorities, its media department said in a statement late Friday. 

The Council of Ministers convened on Thursday to discuss water shortages in the Kurdistan Region. Eleven decisions were made in the meeting, including assigning the KRG’s Department of Foreign Affairs to launch talks with Ankara and Tehran on the water issue, according to a statement from the government’s media and information directorate.

The Council “tasked the Department of Foreign Affairs to conduct meetings with both Turkey and Iran in coordination with relevant ministries regarding water muddiness and suspension,” said the statement. 

Iraq and Kurdistan Region rely on both neighboring countries for water, but regular disruptions have concerned Erbil and Baghdad due to water shortages, especially in summer. 

The shortage has also caused protests in the Kurdistan Region, with the latest one being in Erbil’s Badawa neighborhood on Wednesday.

Governor Omed Khoshnaw later told Rudaw on Wednesday that “we have decided to provide water with tanker trucks as a rapid response and begin digging a new well on Thursday.”
  
Iraq, including Kurdistan Region, is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN, yet it lags behind its neighbors in creating a plan to better manage its water resources.

The Turkish Consul General to Mosul told Iraqi state media on July 17 that the issue is a matter of “great importance” and that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formed a team to solve the water problems impacting Iraq.

In regard to low water levels this year, Mehmet Kucuksakalli said that the reason is due to low rainfall, claiming that “Turkey has never blocked the water” flowing across its border. 

Among the Council of Ministers’ decisions are completing the under-construction water projects, providing 24-hour electricity to wells, and distributing drinking water to areas that suffer from water shortages.

Earlier in the day, the KRG decided to allocate 2.5 billion dinars ($1.7 million) to “combat droughts across the region and 1.5 billion dinars ($1.1 million) in emergency funds to address urgent water shortages in the Erbil province.”