Iraq
An aerial view of Tigris river, witnessing lower levels of water, in south of Iraq's northern city of Mosul, on June 12, 2022. File photo: AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s agriculture ministry announced on Wednesday that Turkey is releasing only 100 cubic meters of water per second, far below the 420 cubic meters agreed upon, warning that drought risks remain despite recent rainfall.
“Turkey has still not fulfilled its promises. It is releasing 100 to 120 cubic meters per second daily, and sometimes as little as 80 cubic meters, while we need approximately 500 cubic meters per second,” Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Maliki told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Maliki’s remarks come despite a water-related agreement signed between Turkey and Iraq in early November, which included provisions to boost releases from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
The deal was designed to implement the mechanisms of the Framework Water Cooperation Agreement, a component of 26 agreements and memorandums of understanding reached between the two countries in April. The agreements were intended to provide sustainable solutions to Iraq’s worsening water crisis.
Earlier, following meetings in early July between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and former Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, Ankara pledged to increase water releases into the Tigris and Euphrates by 420 cubic meters per second.
However, in the months since, Iraqi officials have repeatedly reported that no significant increase has been observed.
Iraq's water crisis is compounded by climate change, declining rainfall, poor resource management, and the absence of comprehensive water-sharing agreements with Turkey as well as its eastern neighbor, Iran, leaving Iraq vulnerable to unilateral upstream policies.
Maliki said the recent rainfall had eased soil dryness but had not made up for Iraq’s expected water share from upstream sources.
"Recently, a good amount of rain fell in the country. We are not saying the risk of drought has vanished; this rainfall has not yet filled the gap left by the water share that should have been released to us by the Turkish side. However, it has saturated the soil to a very good extent," he said.
The minister noted that Iraq had previously endured "the worst water situation, even experiencing drinking water shortages." However, according to the minister, this recent wave of rain - mostly in the provinces of the Kurdistan Region- has met only the early irrigation needs for crop cultivation.
He stressed that the long-term impact on agriculture and water reserves will depend on continued rainfall in the coming months, explaining that benefits would only become clear if precipitation persists through spring.
Earlier this month, Iraq’s water ministry announced that the country’s water reserves in dams have increased by more than 700 million cubic meters as a result of the rainstorms that hit Iraq and the Kurdistan Region three weeks ago. Despite this, the ministry said the increase offered only limited compensation for the large deficit caused by successive drought seasons.
Iraq relies heavily on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, both of which originate in Turkey. However, large-scale Turkish dam projects, including the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), have significantly reduced downstream water flow, exacerbating drought, desertification, and environmental degradation.
In October, the country was receiving less than 40 percent of its historical water share.
Malik Mohammed contributed to this article.
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