Iraq's water crisis deepens: Reserves collapse, mismanagement continues

Shafaq News

06-08-2025

Shafaq News
Iraq is spiraling deeper into a water crisis as climate extremes, state mismanagement, and declining river inflows from upstream neighbors threaten to push the country toward environmental and humanitarian breakdown. Water reserves, which once reached 21 billion cubic meters, have fallen by more than half in the span of a year.
In southern Iraq, the consequences are becoming unmanageable. Entire villages near the Hawizeh Marshes have gone dry, forcing families to migrate, abandoning the only livelihood they have known.
Environmental activist Mortada al-Janoubi said the disaster is being felt acutely in marshland areas, where livestock deaths have become routine. Speaking to Shafaq News, he explained that 'the crisis has led to mass buffalo deaths and growing hunger across marshland communities.' These losses are not only economic but cultural, as the Marsh Arabs—whose pastoral way of life has persisted for centuries—now face an existential threat.
The Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, in a public statement issued on July 24, confirmed that the country is facing one of its most water- stressed years in modern history. According to the ministry, 2025 is shaping up to be Iraq's driest year since 1933.
The statement attributed the decline to both climate change—particularly low rainfall—and insufficient upstream water releases from Turkiye and Iran.
The combined result has been catastrophic: inflows into the Tigris and Euphrates basins have dropped to 27% of last year's levels, while current reservoir storage stands at only 8% of total capacity. This marks a 57% drop compared to 2024. The ministry warned that such a steep decline is threatening water availability across all provinces, particularly in the center and south, and is severely impacting ecological systems in the marshes and along the Shatt al-Arab.
At the heart of the crisis lies a tangle of policy failures. Former parliamentary adviser Adel al-Mukhtar pointed to decades of poor planning and what he described as "reckless cultivation" of water-intensive crops like rice and wheat. These agricultural policies, he argued, ignored basic environmental realities and were implemented without regard for long-term sustainability.
Al-Mukhtar emphasized that Iraq's insistence on growing high-demand crops in the middle of a drought-prone landscape has exhausted the country's remaining reserves and intensified the structural fragility of its water system.
As the water table drops, Iraq's major rivers—the Tigris and Euphrates—have experienced growing salinity and pollution, posing new threats to agriculture and public health. According to Member of Parliament Zozan Ali Kocher, losses in agriculture, fisheries, and herding are accelerating rapidly, particularly in the southern provinces, where scarcity is fueling poverty, displacement, and civil unrest.
Kocher told Shafaq News that although the government has decided to reduce summer planting in order to conserve drinking water, this may not be enough. She warned that without immediate investment in infrastructure upgrades and strategic intervention by the state, Iraq may not be able to sustain even its winter crops, let alone feed its population year-round.
International agreements, once seen as a possible solution, have so far yielded limited results. A recent bilateral understanding with Turkiye to release 400 cubic meters of water per second into Iraq's river system was initially welcomed as a breakthrough. But water expert Tahsin al-Musawi said the relief was mostly symbolic.
In remarks to Shafaq News, he noted that the agreement lacked sufficient technical oversight and practical safeguards, resulting in large volumes of water being lost to evaporation during Iraq's punishing summer heat. According to al-Musawi, such outcomes are the predictable result of years of reactive governance, where short-term deals replace long-term planning.
Meanwhile, Iraq's hydroelectric stations remain mostly idle due to low inflows, and in cities like Basra, residents now rely on water delivered by tanker trucks. These visible signs of systemic collapse illustrate how degraded infrastructure, inefficient use, and governance gaps are combining to compound the country's vulnerability. Al-Musawi urged a wholesale shift toward scientific water management, including the adoption of modern irrigation systems, the removal of illegal diversions, and a rethinking of agricultural priorities under worsening climate stress.
In its official statement, the Ministry of Water Resources also issued a stark warning: unless upstream states increase water releases and internal reforms are enacted—including enforcement against illegal withdrawals and more efficient agricultural use—Iraq's water security may be placed in irreversible jeopardy. The ministry explicitly called for coordinated efforts to reduce overuse and misuse, and for urgent diplomatic engagement to prevent further escalation.
The roots of Iraq's water crisis run deep. Decades of mismanagement by various ministries, compounded by political fragmentation and weak regulatory enforcement, have left the country vulnerable to both environmental shocks and diplomatic pressure. Agricultural policy, shaped by electoral expediency rather than ecological evidence, has perpetuated unsustainable practices. Meanwhile, regional water politics—especially with Turkiye and Iran—remain unresolved, limiting Iraq's ability to secure equitable water flows during drought years.
According to environmental projections from international climate institutions, Iraq could see a 10 to 20 percent decline in annual rainfall by 2050, accompanied by a rise in temperatures of 2 to 3 degrees Celsius. These shifts will drastically increase evaporation rates and reduce surface water availability, making every cubic meter of water more precious than ever.
In this context, continued reliance on inefficient irrigation and water-hungry crops may lead to irreversible losses—not just in agriculture, but in health, urban stability, and energy security.
While the Iraqi government has taken some reactive steps—such as planting restrictions, regional water appeals, and short-term import plans—these are no substitute for systemic reform. Without urgent reform, Iraq's future may be dictated not by war or oil—but by water.