Polluted and parched: Maysan faces deepening water crisis
Shafaq News/ Iraq’s southern province of Maysan is grappling with a severe water crisis, as falling river levels and rising pollution render supplies unsafe for drinking, farming, and livestock.
Local officials say recent water releases from the Ministry of Water Resources have offered only temporary relief, failing to address underlying contamination. “Water quality has sharply deteriorated due to reduced Tigris inflows and widespread discharge of untreated sewage and agricultural waste,” Montadar al-Sayyid Noor, an advisor to Maysan’s Public Services Committee, revealed.
According to Noor, total dissolved solids (TDS) in rivers such as the al-Musharrah have reached levels four times higher than the World Health Organization's recommended limit. “In some areas, it’s no longer fit even for livestock,” he emphasized.
He cited aging infrastructure and poor management, noting that five of Maysan’s eight wastewater plants discharge directly into local rivers. Hospitals, he added, often lack functional sewage treatment systems.
Environmental expert Ahmed Saleh Nahmeh said that recent water discharges from the Kut Barrage were aimed at preventing saltwater intrusion into the Shatt al-Arab, not improving water quality in Maysan. “These are short-term measures,” he told Shafaq News. “Lasting solutions will require a binding water-sharing agreement with Turkiye.”
Nahmeh also warned that Iraq’s strategic water reserves are nearing critical lows. “There may be enough to support summer crops, but wetlands and ecosystems are under serious threat.”
However, Dr. Saleh Hassan Jazaa, professor of environmental pollution at Maysan University, said that increasing water flow alone will not resolve the crisis, unless the issues of untreated sewage, industrial discharge, and agricultural runoff are resolved.
“The water reaching our homes is undrinkable and causes illness,” said Mahdi al-Saadi, a resident of Amarah. “We rely on commercially sold reverse osmosis (RO) water.”
RO systems, widely used across Iraq, purify contaminated supplies by forcing water through membranes that remove salts and pollutants. For many in Maysan, they have become the only reliable source of clean water.
