WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN : AN OVERVIEW

Thamer Ahmad Mohammad Department of Water Resources Engineering College of Engineering, University of Baghdad CONTENTS

Historical Background Geography of Iraq Water Resources in Iraq How to Sustainably Manage the Water Resources in Iraq The Challenges Facing the Water Resources Management in Iraq Conclusions HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 Old Iraq is called Mesopotamia  Historically, the main sources of water in Iraq are rivers Tigris and Euphrates Mesopotamia  These rivers contributed to the development of the Aden Paradise old civilizations such as Assyrian and Sumerian..etc

 Theses civilizations were settled near the banks of rivers Tigris and Euphrates  In the book of Genesis, these rivers formed the Paradise of Eden at downstream

GEOGRAPHY OF Turkey IRAQ  Iraq is located in Southwest Asian and it is bounded by Syria and Jordan from Syria the West, Iran Turkey from the North, Iran from the East and Saudi Arabia from South and Southwest, Saudi Arabia Kuwait and Arabian Gulf from South

 The total area of Iraq is 437,065 km2, the country has high, rugged mountains along its border with Iran and Turkey. The highest point in Iraq is located at the Iran-Iraqi border and it is 3607 m above sea level while the lowest point is at Arabian Gulf and it is at sea level (0 m)

Picture removed due to copyright

Mountains in North Iraq Shatt Al-Arab Near Gulf North

Topography of Iraq WATER RESOURCES IN IRAQ SURFACE WATER RESOURCES

 The main sources of surface water resources are rivers Tigris and Euphrates and together they constitute about 98% of Iraq surface water  Both rivers (Tigris’ and Euphrates’) are transboundary rivers, originating in Turkey passing through Syria before entering Iraq  The Euphrates flows about 1,160 km and the Tigris flows about 1,300 km within the national boundary of Iraq  Rivers Tigris and Euphrates confluences together and form one large river called Shatt al-Arab which is discharging into Arabia Gulf. Shatt al-Arab is used for navigation where ships and boats can sail to Gulf and then to Arabian Sea or Indian Ocean Table 1: Information on Rivers Tigris and Euphrates River Length Length Total Catchment Total Annual (km) in Iraq Catchment Area Annual Flow in (km) Area (km2) inside Iraq Flow Iraq (km2) (BCM) (BCM)

Tigris 1,718 1,300 235,000 122,200 (76%) (52%) 80-84.2 6.8 Euphrates 2,940 1,160 444,000 177,600 (8.3%) (39%) (40%) River Tigris Tributaries  upper Zab (originate from Turkey)  lower Zab (originate from Iran)  Dialay river (originate from Iran)  Al-Udhaim River (located entirely in Iraq)  Al-Tib River (originate from Iran)  Dewarege River (originate from Iran)  Al-Shehabi River (originate from Iran)  Karkah River (located entirely in Iran and )

River Euphrates Tributaries  All the tributaries of the river are outside Iraq HYDROLOGY

Weather Zones Evaporation 200-400 mm Rainfall

100-200 mm RESERVOIRS STORAGE CAPACITY

Dam Name Year Reservoir Basin of Capacity Remarks Const. (m3) Dokan 1959 6.8 x 109 Tigris Constructed on Lower Zab River 1961 2.8 x109 Tigris Constructed on Hemrin 1981 2.4 x 109 Tigris Constructed on Diyala River Mosul 1986 11.11 x 109 Tigris Constructed on River Tigris Dohuk 1988 0.475 x 109 Tigris Constructed on River Robardo Al-Udhaim 1999 1.5 x 109 Tigris Constructed on Al-Udaim River Haditha 1986 8.28 x 109 Euphr Constructed on Euphrates River Total Storage Capacity in the Reservoirs= 33.36x109 m3 HYDROPOWER GENERATION

Dam or Barrage Install capacity No. (MW) 1 Dokan dam 400

2 Darbandikhan dam 240 3 Total Hydropower generated by 1010 Mosul Dam 4 Haditha dam 660 5 Al-Udhaim Dam 40 6 Samaraa Barrage 84 7 Hemrin dam 50 8 Al-Hindiyah barrage 15 9 Shatt Al-Kuffa Barrage 6 Total Install capacity in MW 2505 80 74,22 70 72,11 65,13 60 61,78 Average =43.08(

56,55 56,72 57,25

53,01

( 51,97 50 47,29 3 48,59 44,32

m 45,98

45,29

9 40 43,08 46,34

10 (

34,83 34,12 31,71

30 25,66 30,16 ACTUAL STORAGE

27,16 24,51 26,83 26,21 24,70 25,07 20 20,69 17,50 17,53 17,72 10

0

2015 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2017 2018

Year Live Storage in Reservoirs and lakes up to 1st June 60

50,15 50 48,80

43,28 42,40

40 40,19

) 3 34,96 35,43 Average=26.6 m 33,79

33,53 9 32,70 34,38 32,00 27,68 10 30 29,17 30,30 26,66 22,58

Storage ( Storage 20 19,14 17,82 14,08 17,49 15,56 13,41 13,28 14,59 12,68 11,98 10 10,61 9,17 7,29 8,21

0

Year

Live Storage in Reservoirs and Lakes up to 1st November Yield (Billion m3) 100,00 120,00 20,00 40,00 60,00 80,00 0,00

1933 36,81 1934 34,94 1935 34,78 1936 41,52 1937 43,57 1938 53,30 1939 54,38 1940 58,94 1933 to 1998 For years Average =49.22 1941 57,02 Annual Annual Yield of River Tigris at Upstream 1942 50,75 1943 54,09 1944 40,28 1945 40,48 1946 68,32 1947 35,69 1948 47,29 1949 55,42 1950 57,20 1951 31,20 1952 55,60 1953 57,46 1954 79,96 31,09 1955 1956 51,27 1957 57,09 37,97 1958 1959 34,32 1960 33,08 1961 32,90 Year 1962 39,55 1963 75,09 1964 53,50 1965 41,48 1966 44,32 1967 55,84 1968 67,76 1969 96,58 1970 39,49 1971 39,52 1972 62,31 1973 35,77 1974 53,36 1975 38,06 1976 62,28 1977 40,76 1978 50,71 1979 39,60 1980 51,99 1981 52,93 1982 54,40 1983 41,27 1984 34,00 1985 54,96 1986 32,46 1987 58,54 1988 96,09 26,74 1989 1999 to 2017 for years Average 34.21 1990 38,80 1991 30,87 1992 62,72 1993 1994 45,19 1995 66,34 1996 39,37 1997 42,73 1998 49,95 1999 18,60 2000 20,10 2001 20,90 2002 42,24 2003 57,38 2004 44,42 2005 37,08 2006 41,85 2007 37,09 2008 18,00 2009 22,99 2010 37,68

2011 32,9 2012 28,6 2013 40,6 2014 21,7 2015 27,36 2016 39,54 2017 27,37 2018 23,41 10,00 20,00 30,00 3 40,00 50,00 60,00 70,00

0,00 Yield (billion m )

1933 15,60 1934 18,30 1935 28,00 1936

36,20 Average =30.26 1937 25,80

1938 35,70 1933 1939 29,60 1940 35,50 1941 37,50 1942 30,60

Yield Yield of River Euphrates at Upstream 1943 35,30 1944 33,20 1945 27,60 - 1946 32,00 1972 1947 26,20 1948 35,80 1949 23,20 1950 24,90 1951 21,10 1952

31,40 1953 34,60 1954 39,10 1955 23,40 1956 27,70 1957 27,60 1958 24,00

1959 19,67 1960 29,46 1961 15,24 1962 23,03

Year 1963 40,32 1964 25,67 1965 26,34 1966 35,51 1967 42,33 1968 51,71 1969 63,31 1973 Average=

1970 26,06 1971 28,51 1972 23,20 1973 15,31 1974 9,02 1975 9,42 1976 24,76 1977 30,47 - 1978 26,90 1989 1979 25,37 1980 28,87 1981 27,92 1982 27,92 1983 26,47

1984 15,82 23.59

1985 21,08 1986 17,21 1987 19,60 1988 46,73 1989 28,13 1990 8,99 1991 12,40 1992 12,15 1993 12,37 1994 15,29 1995 23,90 1996 30,01 1994 Average = 1997 27,64 1998 28,95 1999 18,61 2000 17,23 2001 9,59

2002 10,67 -

2003 15,71 2017 2004 20,54 2005 17,57 2006 20,64 2007 19,33 2008 14,70 2009 9,30

2010 12,45 2011

14,62 16.53 2012 20,47 2013 15,15 2014 15,50 2015 8,01 2016 15,15 2017 13,16 2018 9,56

GROUNDWATER RESOURCES

 The groundwater meets 2% to 9% of the total demand on water resources in Iraq.  Iraq is divided into ten groundwater zones  Thousands of wells were excavated in different parts of Iraq for various purposes, especially for agricultural purposes.  The total number of wells excavated up to 1990 reached 8752 of which 1200 are for agricultural purposes and all of these wells were excavated by the government. The number of wells excavated by the private sector reached 400 wells only.  The total amount of ground water exploited per year is about 1.2x109 m3.

HOW TO SUSTAINABLY MANAGE WATER RESOURCES IN IRAQ?

 Rehabilitation of Mosul dam in order to increase storage level from 319 to 330 m amsl  Rehabilitation of agricultural drainage networks and to link it with the evaporation ponds in order to use the drainage water for replenishing the storage in marchlands at South of Iraq (when the salinity of the drainage water is below 4000 ppm), irrigating green belts and supplying the oil industry with water (applying reuse concept)  Supplying the marchland at the South with 5.7 x 109 m3 during the wet years and 3.7 x 109 m3 during the dry years in order to maintain the ecological balance in them  To overcome the water shortage by implementing an effective sustainable management including the usage of 5.25 x 109 m3 of groundwater recharge  To use modern efficient irrigation systems (with efficiency more than 60%) to replace the low efficiency traditional irrigation systems (with high losses, high seepage and about 30% efficiency)  Achieving the required reforms in the legislations that give more control on water resources usage  To limit the number of licenses given for fisheries in order to control water demand and reuse water  Use desalination plants operated by renewable energy at the Southern part Iraq where the salinity of water is higher than the recommended limits

THE CHALLENGES FACING THE WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IN IRAQ 1.The construction of big storage projects by Turkish government on trans-boundary rivers. For river Tigris, such as Ileso and Jzara dams will cause i. Decreasing the annual water volume by 9.7 x 109 m3 which forms about 47% from the annual water volume before constructing these dams. These dams will store a water volume of 15.5 x 109 m3. The effects of the Turkish dams filling is significantly reduce water levels in the river Tigris at Mosul, Baghdad, and in the marshlands at South Iraq, raising fears of drought which would affect the water supply for various purposes.

Constructed Dams and Dams under construction on rivers Tigris, Euphrates and rivers discharging to them outside and inside Iraq ii. Deteriorating water quality in rivers Tigris and Euphrates particularly after filling the Ileso and Jazra dams beside low flow will cause reduction in hydropower generation

Flow in River Tigris at upstream and downstream for years 1960-2012 Flow in River Euphrates at upstream and downstream for years 1948-2007 2. The need for building a large desalination plant in southern Iraq. The project will supply population of 400,000 persons in the city of Basra with drinking water as well as supplying oil fields with water. Completion was originally expected to be in April 2017 but it is delayed due to economical restrictions. Upon completion of the desalination plant, it will be the largest facility of its kind in Iraq, and it is capable of supplying 199,000 m3/day of potable water

3. To reuse the irrigation return to meet part of the water demand. Also, the treated water can be used for oil wells re-injection, creating green belts to combat desertification and augmenting the water available for the Mesopotamian Marshlands of southern Iraq. 4. Resuming a dialogue with riparian countries to achieve an equitable distribution of the transboundary water resources according to UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourse. The equitable distribution of the flow in rivers Tigris and Euphrates will have detrimental impact on water supply in Iraq. 5. Public awareness program is vital since it will help in reducing water losses and value water. This will reduce the demand on water.

CONCLUSIONS After reviewing the problems of water resources management in Iraq, the following conclusions can be highlighted 1. Regional cooperation and coordination In Iraq, 60.8% of the surface water resources are trans- boundary and originating from neighbouring countries where the downstream basin of the transboundary rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) are located in Iraq. This makes the rivers to be vulnerable to inflow control from upstream. The basins of these transboundary rivers are require cooperation among riparian countries in order to equally shared the water in the rivers basins and comply with international treaties namely the UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourse. Indeed, unilateral hydraulic projects in Turkey and Iran display no consideration for downstream users in Iraq. Due to river damming and increased withdrawals at upstream, Euphrates and Tigris inflow have significantly decreased in less than a decade, and this downward trend is expected to worsen upon the completion of damming projects that are currently under construction and filling. Resuming a dialogue with riparian countries to achieve an equitable distribution of water resources is very important to the future of water resources in Iraq.

2. Public awareness program The government should focus on awareness programs in schools, universities, communities and media in which the peoples should learn how to conserve the water as a natural resource and wisely use it. This is because large volumes of water are wasted by users deliberately or inadvertently.

3.The new management practices and legislation The management of water resources in Iraq is supply driven type. However, the climate change and population growth has clear impact on the availability of surface water. New management practices such as reuse, sustainable and efficient use, and increase water tariff to value water by the public.

3. The new management practices and legislation of water resources in Iraq is supply driven type. However, the climate change and population growth has clear impact on the availability of surface water. New management practices such as reuse, sustainable and efficient use, and increase the water tariff to value water by public.