Iraq is in the grip of a water crisis after this year's seasonal rains failed, wiping out crops in some parts of the country and causing an unusually high number of sandstorms because the land is so dry.

Dams and reservoirs in neighbouring Turkey and Syria have made the problem worse. The level of water in the Tigris and the Euphrates, the rivers that flow from the two countries into Iraq, has fallen by more than 60 per cent over the past 20 years.

Latif Rashid, the Minister of Water Resources, said that he was concerned but that the Government was doing everything possible to tackle the drought. “Of course shortage of water is a crisis, shortage of crop is a crisis, shortage of agricultural production is a crisis,” he told The Times in an interview. “All these are crises. However, we hope to be able to manage them.”

Iraqi farmers have been hit hardest as rivers dry up and reservoirs run low. In Diyala province, farmland once criss-crossed with irrigation channels lies dead, cattle are going thirsty and the green leaves on date palms that dot the region are an unhealthy brown.

A key reservoir, the Hamrin, is running at only 5 to 10 per cent capacity, forcing people to dig for water themselves. Unfortunately, the only underground source is salty and unfit for human or animal consumption.

Plans are being drawn up to build more wells, equipped with water treatment facilities, but nothing has materialised yet and people are growing desperate. Many have moved from their homes to urban areas already.

Average annual rainfall in Iraq, which occurs early in the year, before summer, is between 1,100 and 1,200 millimetres. Only 20 to 30 per cent of the average fell this year.

Mr Rashid added: “Last year the rain wasn't very generous, so this is an accumulative result.” He has travelled to Ankara and Damascus to ask the two governments to allow more water to flow into Iraq, particularly from the Euphrates.

The Tigris feeds into the country from Turkey, while the Euphrates comes from Turkey, through Syria and finally into Iraq. The Minister has also talked about the problem with Tehran because Iran has tributaries that flow into the Tigris.

Hassan Matrud, a farmer in southern Diyala, is one of only a handful of people left in his village after most moved out because of the drought.

“I cannot afford to go because I do not have a truck to take my furniture,” said the 51-year-old from Fatamia, adding: “Since last year we have had no water ... [so] it is very hard to make money.”

Turning up the heat

51% Expected decline this year in Iraq's wheat and barley production

2.8 million The number of internal refugees in Iraq, many of whom are already short of clean water

3,000 Number of Iraqis who gathered in Baghdad last week to pray for rain

1m Sheep killed by the drought

Source: www.pecad.fas.usda.gov ; Times archives

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