Iraqi dam dries up completely after 15-day water cutoff

Shafaq News – Diyala

Al-Azim Dam in Diyala has completely dried up, leaving only 9 meters of polluted, unusable water, the director of al-Azim sub-district, Nabil al-Obaidi, said on Tuesday.

Speaking to Shafaq News, al-Obaidi warned of an “imminent threat” to surrounding areas and villages as drought conditions worsen. He stated that the crisis cell had determined the remaining water supply would last no more than 15 to 20 days, describing the situation as dire, with most villages currently relying on tanker trucks for drinking water.

Al-Obaidi also cited the al-Azim central water project, valued at 28 billion dinars (approx. $21.3M), which has remained unfinished for over a decade, urging immediate action to complete it and shift the sub-district’s water source entirely to the Tigris River to end a crisis that has persisted for more than 50 years.

Iraq has endured a deepening drought crisis for years, driven by climate change, reduced rainfall, and falling water flows from upstream countries, including Turkiye and Iran. These conditions have slashed farmland, fueled desertification, and weakened food security, severely impacting the livelihoods of millions—particularly in agricultural and rural regions.

At the same time, Iraq’s water reserves in dams and reservoirs have dropped below safe levels. The Ministry of Water Resources has issued repeated warnings over dwindling storage and announced it is prioritizing water distribution for drinking and limited horticulture, in the absence of a comprehensive summer agricultural plan. 

Read more: Iraq’s water crisis: Farmers leave villages as rivers run dry