Countless dead fish in Maysan compound water pollution woes
MAYSAN, Iraq - A myriad of fish weighing a combined three tons were found dead and floating on the banks of the Al-Ezz river in Iraq’s southern Maysan province after the water recorded a twenty-fold increase in salinity and a sharp drop in water levels.
Fishermen lamented to Rudaw about the loss of their only livelihood, demanding urgent, effective solutions from the government to ensure such disasters do not occur again.
"We used to make 20-30,000 dinars [a day] to help our families, but when the fish die, our livelihood ends," Jabbar Hussain, a fisherman, told Rudaw’s Anmar Ghazi on Wednesday. "We only want the government to help us."
According to Maysan agriculture authorities, more than 17,000 farmers are deprived of their work with production halted due to a severe drought in the area.
“The summer agricultural plan for this year was completely canceled,” Alaa Abdul-Mohsen Yassin, director of Maysan agriculture, told Rudaw. “The average agricultural area in previous years was more than 150,000 dunums for the cultivation of yellow and white corn and vegetables, but this year the plan was canceled and settled only on an area of about 2800 dunams to grow vegetables.”
According to the Ministry of Environment, the percentage of pollution in the waters of the Tigris River is ninety percent.
Iraq is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the United Nations. It is facing a severe water shortage because of reduced precipitation, higher temperatures, and waste and mismanagement.
In one of the latest stark warnings of the threats a heating climate poses to Iraq, a report by the Ministry of Water Resources late last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq’s two main rivers will be entirely dry by 2040.
Much of Iraq’s agricultural lands depend on irrigation, but dams and reservoirs were at record-low levels last summer.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has long warned that water availability in Iraq will decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of agriculture and industry sectors.
Fishermen lamented to Rudaw about the loss of their only livelihood, demanding urgent, effective solutions from the government to ensure such disasters do not occur again.
"We used to make 20-30,000 dinars [a day] to help our families, but when the fish die, our livelihood ends," Jabbar Hussain, a fisherman, told Rudaw’s Anmar Ghazi on Wednesday. "We only want the government to help us."
According to Maysan agriculture authorities, more than 17,000 farmers are deprived of their work with production halted due to a severe drought in the area.
“The summer agricultural plan for this year was completely canceled,” Alaa Abdul-Mohsen Yassin, director of Maysan agriculture, told Rudaw. “The average agricultural area in previous years was more than 150,000 dunums for the cultivation of yellow and white corn and vegetables, but this year the plan was canceled and settled only on an area of about 2800 dunams to grow vegetables.”
According to the Ministry of Environment, the percentage of pollution in the waters of the Tigris River is ninety percent.
Iraq is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the United Nations. It is facing a severe water shortage because of reduced precipitation, higher temperatures, and waste and mismanagement.
In one of the latest stark warnings of the threats a heating climate poses to Iraq, a report by the Ministry of Water Resources late last year predicted that unless urgent action is taken to combat declining water levels, Iraq’s two main rivers will be entirely dry by 2040.
Much of Iraq’s agricultural lands depend on irrigation, but dams and reservoirs were at record-low levels last summer.
The UN Environment Program (UNEP) has long warned that water availability in Iraq will decrease by around 20 percent by 2025, threatening the long-term stability of agriculture and industry sectors.