Nineveh sounds the alarm: sharp decline in Iraq's primary water storage levels
Shafaq News/ On Saturday, Nineveh Provincial Council member Mohammed Ahris warned of an imminent halt in the operation of the Al-Jazira irrigation project, which is classified as one of the country’s strategic irrigation facilities.
In a statement to Shafaq News agency, Ahris highlighted that “work on the Al-Jazira irrigation project will soon come to a stop.”
Several factors are behind this, including drought, scarce rainfall, reduced water flow from the Turkish side, and most importantly, the declining water supply from the Mosul dam lake. The Mosul Dam reservoir is a crucial strategic water storage site for Nineveh Province and Iraq in general. It supplies water to the Al-Jazira irrigation project, which, in turn, irrigates over 240,000 dunams of agricultural land producing wheat, barley, potatoes, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, and other crops.
Ahris explained, “Water inflow from the Turkish side is estimated at 170 cubic meters per second, while the water discharged from the Mosul Dam reservoir exceeds 500 cubic meters per second.”
Concerns are rising that the drop in water levels at the Mosul Dam could lead to widespread land dryness, which would severely impact many families dependent on agriculture in that area.
Ahris urged authorities to “take urgent measures to ensure the continuation of the Al-Jazira irrigation project and prevent further declines in the water levels at the dam to ensure the sustainability of Iraq’s most important irrigation project.”
Built in 1950, the Mosul Dam is one of Iraq's largest and ranks fourth among the region's dams. It provides water and electricity to over a million Iraqis.
Iraq has been facing a severe water crisis for several years due to reduced water inflows from upstream countries and a lack of rainfall. This has led to a significant drop in the levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, with the crisis peaking in recent years, resulting in droughts in several rivers and marshes this year.
