Water supply and sanitation in Iraq

Water supply and sanitation in Iraq is characterized by poor water and service quality. Three decades of war, combined with limited environmental awareness, have destroyed Iraq's water resources management system. Thus, Iraq faces difficulties to realize the target of 91% of households using safe drinking water supply by 2015. Currently, 16% of households report daily problems with supply and 20% use an unsafe drinking water source. Furthermore, leaking sewage pipes and septic tanks pollute the drinking water network.(11)

Iraq is fed by two major rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, both of which originate outside of Iraq. These two rivers account for 98% of Iraq`s surface water supply. Their flow is therefore very vulnerable to dams and water diversions in Turkey, Syria and Iran. The Euphrates does not receive water from permanent tributaries within Iraq territory and is fed only by seasonal runoff from wadis. The average annual flow of the Euphrates at the border to Turkey is estimated at 30 km³, with a fluctual annual value ranging from 10 to 40 km³. The Tigris has an average annual runoff of 21.2 km³. Within Iraq, the Tigris River receives water from five main tributaries, namely the Little Khabur, Great Zab, Little Zab, Diyala and Al Authaim. Yet, only the latter lies entirely within Iraq. All together, 50% of the Tigris water comes from outside the country.

The flow of the rivers varies considerably. Destructive flooding, especially of the Tigris, is not uncommon. In the south of Iraq, large areas are regularly inundated, levees often collapse and roads and villages must be built on high embankments. Conversely, years of low flow make irrigation difficult. The Euphrates and Tigris they have fallen to less than a third of their normal flow which is largely the result of upstream activities by Turkey and, to a much lesser extent, by Syria and Iran.

In 1946 Turkey agreed to begin monitoring the two rivers and to share related data with Iraq. In 1980 Turkey and Iraq further specified the earlier agreement by establishing a Joint Technical Committee on Regional Waters. Two years later, the Syrian Arab Republic joined the Committee.(9) In the 1980s, Turkey began a $32 billion dam-building project known as the Southeastern Anatolia Project or “GAP” (Turkish: “Güneydoðu Anadolu Projesi”). As part of GAP, Turkey constructed a series of 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric power plants along the Euphrates and Tigris. The key structure is the Atatürk Dam on the Euphrates, which is located approximately 80 km upstream from the Syrian border. Turkey has stated that it would only guarantee a flow downstream from the dam of 15.75 km³/a (500 m³/s) of Euphrates water across the border to the Syrian Arab Republic. This represents about 50% of the natural flow of the Euphrates at the Turkish border. Both Syria and Iraq have tried to inhibit this. They stated that the minimum flow should average at least 700 m³/s but so far Turkey rejected this claim.(10) Syria is in the unusual position of being a downstream country with regard to Turkey and an upstream country with regard to Iraq. In 1990, the Syria agreed to share the remaining Euphrates water with Iraq on a 58 percent (Iraq) and 42 percent (Syria) basis, which corresponds to a flow of 9 km³/a at the border with Iraq.(9)

...
Wikipedia