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Surface Area
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18 518 000 ha
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|
Cultivated Area
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5 742 000 ha
|
|
Cultivated Area %
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31
|
|
Population
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19 043 000
|
|
Average Annual Precipitation
|
252 mm/year
|
|
Average Annual Volume of Precipitation
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46.67 billion m3/year
|
|
Renewable Surface Water
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12,63 billion m3/year
|
|
Renewable Groundwater
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6,172 billion m3/year
|
|
Total Renewable Water (natural)
|
57,78 billion m3/year
|
|
Total Renewable Water (actual)
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18,8 billion m3/year
|
According to the data for the year 2009, Syria, with a population of 18 million, is thought to have 18,8 billion m3/year renewable water resources potential. While the amount of water per capita is less than 1000 m3/year according to the water scarcity index, the amount of the estimated total water use in Syria is 15 billion m3. The Euphrates and the Asi basins meet 50 percent and 20 percent of this withdrawal respectively. (1) Since Syria’s economy is based on agriculture, water is mainly used for agricultural purposes. Agricultural water withdrawal constitutes 87 percent of total water withdrawal while 9 percent and 4 percent of total withdrawal are for municipal and industrial purposes respectively. The demand for municipal water increases day by day because of the rapid population increase of 3.7 percent. Total cultivated land is 5.5 million ha in Syria and constitutes about 30 percent of the total country area. 20 percent of cultivated land, 1.2 million ha has been irrigated.
The Euphrates and Asi basins have the biggest shares within irrigated lands with 63 percent and 17 percent respectively. The amount of irrigated land increased from 650 thousand ha in 1985 to 1.3 million ha in 2002. The rapid increase in the amount of irrigated land is directly related with increasing use of groundwater and the Syrian government’s aim of ensuring food security. Production of cereals and cotton has been promoted within the framework of “self-sufficiency” policy. There was a remarkable increase in the withdrawal of groundwater during last two decades. 60 percent of the irrigated land has been irrigated by groundwater. Due to this situation, groundwater is excessively used in some regions of the country. Consequently, declining groundwater negatively affects feeding of surface water and causes salinization of groundwater in coastline. On the other hand, surface water is developed in many basins and water supply is provided from dams. (3)
In the 1960s, Syrian Government began Euphrates Valley Project on the Euphrates river which Turkey and Iraq are co-riparians of Syria. Tabka Dam was decided to be built on the Euphrates River in 1963. Built with the help of the Soviet Union, Tabka Dam put into operation in 1973. Built for irrigation purposes, this dam, at the same time assumed the functions of electricity generation and protection from seasonal floods. The waters of Al Assad Lake are used for irrigation of cotton fields. Below Tabka Dam, the waters of the Khabur and Belikh join Euphrates. Syria, who built dams on the two tributaries, has a third dam on the Euphrates River, Tishrin Dam.
Syria follows a supply-side water policy in water development. Demand management and development of water models are given less importance. Water managers and users tend to develop and manage new water resources. The aim here is to add new water resources to the national water budget. The most common way to accomplish this is building new dams and multi-purpose reservoirs to control surface water. There are 165 dams in Syria and their total capacity is 19.7 billion m3. (5)
There are 16 main rivers in Syria and six of them have the characteristics of transboundary rivers. These rivers are the Euphrates, Afrin, Asi, Yarmuk, El-Kebir and the Tigris. The agreement signed in 1955 between Syria and Jordan with regard to the allocation of waters of the river Yarmuk was revised in 1987. An agreement was signed between Syria and Lebanon in 1994 about the allocation of waters of Asi river. According to this agreement 80 million m3/year of water will be left to Lebanon and 335 million m3/year of water will be given to Syria. (6)
In 1987, an informal agreement between Turkey and Syria guaranteed the latter a minimum flow of the Euphrates River of 500 m3/sec from Turkey-Syria border throughout the year. In 1990, Iraq and Syria, signed an agreement with regard to leaving 58 percent of Euphrates waters to Iraq and 42 percent of waters to Syria.(7)
In 2001, a Joint Communiqué which envisions supporting training, technology exchange, study missions and joint projects was signed between the General Organization for Land Development (GOLD) of Syria and the GAP Regional Development Administration (GAP-RDA) of Turkey.(8)
In 2002, a bilateral Agreement between the Syria and Iraq was signed concerning the installation of a Syrian pump station on the Tigris River for irrigation purposes.
In 2008, Turkey, Syria and Iraq decided to cooperate on water issues by establishing a water institute that will consist of 18 water experts from each country to work towards the solution of water-related problems among the three countries. Moreover, Turkey and Syria decided to jointly construct a “Friendship Dam” on the Asi River. The Friendship Dam was planned for the Turkey-Syria border and the two countries are predicted to benefit 50 percent-50 percent from the dam. 8 thousand hectares of agricultural area is planned to be irrigated by the dam whose construction began on February 6, 2011. (10)
References
(1) FAO, Irrigation in the Middle East region in figures;
Aquastat Survey-2008, FAO Water Reports 24, Roma, 2008, p.342.
(4) FAO, 2008, p.347.
(5) op.cit., p.348.
(6) Samir Salha, Türkiye, Suriye ve Lübnan İlişkilerinde Asi Nehri Sorunu, DPE, Ankara, 1995, p.27.
(7) FAO, 2008, p.349.
(8) op.cit., p.350.
(9) op.cit., p.350.