Iraq's water scarcity deepens: Mass exodus from provinces

Shafaq News – Baghdad/ al-Anbar/ Basra

Iraq is facing a cascading water crisis that has prompted emergency measures across multiple provinces, paralyzed agriculture, and ignited warnings of an ecological and societal collapse. Officials, environmentalists, and lawmakers are sounding the alarm as rivers recede, reservoirs dry up, and public infrastructure buckles under the strain of a historic drought.

In Kirkuk, authorities have formally canceled the summer agricultural season due to the critical depletion of water resources. The province’s Directorate of Water Resources confirmed on Sunday that most secondary irrigation gates have been closed in an effort to conserve supplies and prevent illegal usage. “The country’s water situation is under real threat,” said Zaki Karim, head of the directorate, citing plummeting rainfall and severely diminished storage at key facilities such as Dokan Dam. Water discharges from the dam have fallen below half of their usual volume.

Karim explained that the main canal of the Kirkuk irrigation project, which services the city and its surrounding districts including Tuz Khurmatu, must be preserved at all costs. “Any farmer who violates the agricultural ban will be subject to legal action,” he said, describing the policy as a necessary response to the evolving climate emergency and a stark indicator of the fragility of Iraq’s water infrastructure.

As conditions deteriorate further south, Iraq’s Ministry of Interior has ordered the urgent deployment of police water tankers to Basra, where thousands are struggling to access safe drinking water. According to a ministry official, the directive covers federal police units and water logistics services in neighboring provinces and was issued after local authorities reported severe shortages in districts such as Shatt al-Arab, Abu al-Khaseeb, al-Faw, and northern Basra.

The initiative is being coordinated with Basra’s police command to ensure targeted delivery to the worst-affected areas. Residents have reported salinity creeping into freshwater supplies, making water unfit for consumption. In Karma Ali, salinity levels have reached 6,300 parts per million—far above the acceptable threshold for both human and animal use. The Iraqi Green Observatory has warned that these levels signal an impending environmental catastrophe and called for immediate government intervention.

Al-Anbar, Iraq’s largest western province, is also confronting one of its most perilous water crises in decades, with sharp declines in Euphrates River inflows threatening strategic reservoirs. Once sustained by releases of 500 cubic meters per second, the river now fluctuates between 65 and 145 cubic meters per second—volumes that experts describe as dangerously low and insufficient for even temporary storage.

“These discharges are consumed instantly—they are no longer being stored,” said Samim Salam, head of the Euphrates Environmental Center. “The Haditha Dam, which is vital for western Iraq’s water supply, is now operating at emergency levels.” He added that the problem is exacerbated by domestic mismanagement and powerful individuals exploiting water resources for private fish farms and rice cultivation, further draining the already limited reserves.

Salam said the consequences extend beyond agriculture to environmental displacement. Villagers across al-Anbar are abandoning farmland as once-arable areas are rendered barren. “Desertification is advancing at more than 100 dunams per year. People are moving from rural zones to urban centers in search of water, eroding Iraq’s agricultural backbone and accelerating ecological collapse.”

Salam pointed to what he called a structural failure in Iraq’s water management policies. “There’s a fundamental flaw in how we allocate and regulate water. Successive governments have failed to implement clear conservation strategies or curb abuses by well-connected actors.”

According to Iraq’s Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Water, inflows from the Tigris and Euphrates have dropped below 50% of historical averages, while dam reserves have also fallen by half. The situation is further complicated by upstream policies. Turkiye’s refusal to acknowledge the Tigris and Euphrates as international rivers remains a major diplomatic obstacle, undermining Iraq’s efforts to secure its fair share of water under international law.

The strategic water reserve has plummeted to just 10 billion cubic meters, down from 20 billion last year. This leaves the country with barely half the 18 billion cubic meters required to sustain summer needs. The American publication Forbes described the regional drought as “unprecedented,” noting that the Middle East is among the most water-stressed regions on the planet. The report warned that if the current trajectory continues, the consequences could be “devastating.”

The crisis is particularly dire in Iraq’s southern marshlands, where water levels have dropped by 80%. These ecosystems, once recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites and vital to the cultural identity and livelihood of local communities, are now collapsing. “Buffalo herds are dying, farmers are abandoning their land, and marshland residents are migrating in search of survival,” said Haidar al-Asadi of the Iraq Green Observatory. He described the situation as an “existential threat” akin to the territorial invasion by ISIS in 2014, but with longer-term consequences.

“The real enemy today is the advancing drought,” al-Asadi said. “Entire provinces are being drained of life.”

He urged the Ministry of Water Resources to adopt emergency regulations to control internal overuse and hold neighboring states accountable for upstream diversions. “Iraq must act swiftly to renegotiate water-sharing agreements and enforce national quotas to ensure fair distribution,” he said. “Without decisive action, the months ahead will be far harsher.”