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Surface Area
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43 832 000 ha
|
|
Cultivated Area
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6 005 000 ha
|
|
Cultivated Area %
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13,7
|
|
Population
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31 499 287
|
|
Average Annual Precipitation
|
216 mm/year
|
|
Average Annual Volume of Precipitation
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94,68 billion m3/year
|
|
Renewable Surface Water
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74,33 billion m3/year
|
|
Renewable Groundwater
|
3,28 billion m3/year
|
|
Total Renewable Water (natural)
|
98,61 billion m3/year
|
|
Total Renewable Water (actual)
|
77,61 billion m3/year
|
Iraq, with a total area of 438 320 km2, have a total cultivated area of about 6 million ha. The climate in Iraq is mainly continental. Besides, north-eastern mountainous regions have a Mediterranean climate. Rainfall is seasonal and occurs in the winter from December to February. Average annual precipitation is estimated at 216 mm, and ranges from 1 200 mm in the northeast to less than 100 mm in the South of the country.(1)
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was US$ 31,4 billion in 2009 and total population is about 28.8 million in 2005. In 2000 the agricultural sector accounted for 5 percent of GDP. While the agricultural labour force represented 31 percent of the economically active population in 1975, it decreased to about 8 percent in 2004.(2)
Total amount of water in Iraq is 75.61 billion m3 annually while total water withdrawal is 66 billion m3 of which 79 percent for agricultural purposes, 6.5 percent for domestic supplies and 14.5 percent for industrial use. In 1991 safe water supplies reached 100 percent in urban areas but only 54 percent in rural areas. The water supply and sanitation situation has deteriorated as a result of the wars. In 2006, access to improved drinking water sources reached 77 percent of the population.(3)
Originating in Turkey, the Tigris and the Euphrates are transboundary rivers in Iraq. Before their confluence, the Euphrates flows for about 1 000 km and the Tigris for about 1 300 km within the territory of Iraq. The area of the Tigris River Basin in Iraq is 253 thousand km2, which is 54 percent of the total river basin area. According to FAO data, the average annual runoff is at 21.33 km3 as it enters Iraq. The Tigris tributaries are; (4)
- the Greater Zab, which originates in Turkey generates 13.18 billion m3 at its confluence with the Tigris and 62 percent of the total area of this river basin is in Iraq;
-the Lesser Zab, which originates in Iran generates about 7.17 km3;
-the Al-Adhaim drains about 13 000 km2 entirely in Iraq and generates about 0.79 billion m3 at its confluence with the Tigris;
-the Diyala originating from Iran generates about 5.74 km3 at its confluence with the Tigris;
-the Nahr at Tib, Doveyrich and Shehabi rivers, draining together more than 8 000 km2, bring together about 1 billion m3 of highly saline waters in the Tigris;
-the Karkheh brings around 6.3 billion m3 yearly into the Tigris River during the dry season.
The average annual flow of the Euphrates as it enters Iraq is at 30 billion m3. In contrast with the Tigris, the Euphrates receives no tributaries during its passage in Iraq. The Shatt Al-Arab is the river formed by the confluence downstream of the Euphrates and the Tigris; it flows into the Gulf after a course of only 190 km. The Karun River, originating in Iran, has a mean annual flow of 24.7 billion m3 and flows into the Shatt Al-Arab.(5)
There is a large yearly fluctuation in the average annual discharge of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers together. According to the records for 1938–1980 period, there was the critical drought year with less than 30 km3 at the beginning of the 1960s. On the other hand, there have been years in the mid-1960s when 68 km3 were recorded in the two rivers and years in the mid-1970s when the amount reached over 84 km3. Such variations in annual discharge has caused large and possibly disastrous floods as well as periodic severe droughts. In the southern part of the country, immense areas are regularly inundated, levees often collapse, and villages and roads must be built on high embankments. The Tharthar Reservoir was planned in the 1950s to protect Baghdad from the ravages of the periodic flooding of the Tigris.(6)
In order to increase water transport efficiency, minimize losses and waterlogging, and improve water quality, a number of new watercourses were constructed in Iraq. The Third River (also called Saddam River) was completed in 1992. The length of the watercourse is 565 km, with a total discharge of 210 m3/s. (7)
Water capacity of the 7 greatest dams located in the basin of the Euphrates-Tigris is 110.3 billion cubic meters. These dams are, with respect to their heights in a descending manner, Mosul, Derbendi Khan, Dokan, Haditha, Hamrin, Dibbis ve Samarra Tharthar. (8)
There are eleven major wastewater treatment plants in Iraq and three of them are located in Baghdad. All the treatment plants are located near rivers. The total treatment capacity of these plants is 650 000 m3/day. After treatment, wastewater has been discharged into rivers. Moreover, the total capacity of sea water desalination plant is 384 513 m3/day. (9)
Governance in Iraq is in a state of flux at present. The Ministry of Water Resources is the bulk water supplier for the country and responsible for the whole national water planning, operating twenty-five major dams, hydropower stations and barrages and 275 irrigation pumping stations serving almost the entire irrigated area. The Ministry comprises five commissions and eleven companies. Other key institutions related to water in Iraq include the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works, the Ministry of Environment and other ministries and local governorates concerned with economic and human resources. Higher educational institutions could provide scientific support on water issues and potential human resources for the government. (10)
Water resources development and management plans were prepared in the 1960s and 1980s. These studies included a comprehensive and detailed analysis of needs, opportunities and plans for the development and management of Iraq’s water resources. (11)
The surface water of Iraq, who acceded the United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses in 1997, depend largely on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers both of which are transboundary water resources. Turkey and Iraq signed Treaty of Friendship And Good-Neighborhood in 1946. Additional Protocol no. 1 concerning the regulation of waters of Tigris, Euphrates and their tributaries signed as a part of this treaty. In addition, Turkey agreed to begin monitoring the two rivers and to share related data with Iraq. In 1980 Turkey and Iraq established a Joint Technical Committee on Regional Waters. After a bilateral agreement in 1982, the Syrian Arab Republic joined the committee. Turkey has unilaterally guaranteed to allow 500 m3/s of water of the Euphrates across the border to the Syria. According to an agreement between the Syria and Iraq in 1990, Syria agrees to share the Euphrates water with Iraq on a 58 percent (Iraq) and 42 percent (Syria) basis. 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 started the work of establishing a water institute consisting of 18 water experts from each country to work towards the solution of water-related problems among the three countries. (12)
References
(1) FAO, Irrigation in the Middle East region in figures;
Aquastat Survey-2008, FAO Water Reports 24, Roma, 2008, p.199.
(4) op.cit.
(5) FAO, 2008, p.204.
(6) op.cit., p. 203.
(8) op.cit.
(9) op.cit.
(10) FAO. 2008, p.206.
(11) op.cit.
(12) op.cit., p.207.