Iraqi Water Resources Minister Aoun Diab told Iraqi state media (INA) that the “water reserves in the country are good,” stating that the country is at the beginning of harvest season, so there will not be a need for irrigation.
“The amount of water entering the dams is greater than what is used for agricultural consumption,” he added.
Diab said that the ministry has set a “sound plan” for distributing water, and “to avoid drought in the coming years.”
Water scarcity is one of the main challenges Iraq faces today. The World Resources Institute places it among 25 countries in the world that face extreme water stress, meaning that it uses over 80 percent of its available supply of water and is at risk of running out of water in case of any short-term drought.
Water reserves have decreased by half since 2022 due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining river levels, according to the water ministry. The devastating effects of climate change are exacerbated by the Turkish and Iranian damming of rivers that flow into Iraq.
Diab said that this year, the water level at the Hamrin dam, which is used for providing irrigation for the orchards in Diyala province, is experiencing one of the best agricultural seasons while the Darbandikhan dam is close to overflowing.
Saman Ismail, the director of the Darbandikhan dam, told Rudaw last week that the dam is only 23 centimeters away from overflowing. The last time the dam overflowed was in the spring of 2019.
Earlier this week, the Iraqi capital of Baghdad hosted a three-day conference with the participation of hundreds of government officials, academics, and international and local civil society organizations to discuss and tackle the pressing issues of climate change, agriculture, and water management.
At the conference, Iraq’s water ministry signed several Memoranda of Understanding for joint cooperation with its Tunisian counterpart and the World Food Program (WFP), as well as launching a multimillion-dollar project to revive the marshlands in Basra province.
Last week, Baghdad signed a strategic water agreement with Ankara during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Iraq. Bassem al-Awadi, spokesperson for the Iraqi government, told Rudaw at the time that the agreement would help resolve the water crisis in the country.