Ayatollah Al-Sistani bans sewage dumping in Iraqi rivers

Shafaq News- Najaf/ Baghdad

Iraq’s top Shia authority, Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, on Wednesday ruled that dumping untreated sewage, solid waste, medical waste, or chemical pollutants into Iraq’s rivers is “religiously forbidden.”

In a written answer to a question, Al-Sistani’s office explained that such dumping causes public harm, making the offender “sinful” under Islamic law and, in some cases, liable for the damage caused. Environmental laws and instructions issued by competent state bodies must also “not be violated.”

Authorities should meanwhile provide alternative ways to dispose of waste in a manner that protects the environment and public health, the office added.

Environment Minister Sarwa Abdulwahid described the decree as national and religious backing for government efforts to protect water resources and public health, noting that the ministry, in coordination with other state bodies, is continuing monitoring programs, legal measures, and short- and long-term work to address pollution sources.

Videos had spread on social media showing several institutions dumping solid medical and industrial waste, along with sewage, into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Shafaq News documented footage showing wastewater being discharged directly into the Tigris through several pipes in central Baghdad.

The environmental watchdog Green Iraq Observatory had previously warned that millions of cubic meters of sewage are dumped into Iraq’s rivers every day without adequate treatment, posing a growing threat to water resources and public health, leading to a warning from the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq that pollution levels in affected rivers exceed safe limits by 70-80%.

Read more: Death in the current: Pollution decimates Iraq’s river ecosystems