Development and Management of the Euphrates–Tigris Basin

Water Resources Development, Vol. 20, No. 1, 15–33, March 2004 Development and Management of the Euphrates–Tigris Basin D.AltinbilekDepartment of Civil EngineeringMiddle East Technical UniversityAnkara06531 [email protected] DOGAN ALTINBILEK International Hydropower Association and Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey ABSTRACT Issues related to the development and management of the Euphrates–Tigris basin are discussed. Historical perspectives on water conflict, geography, hydrology, water and land resources development in riparian countries, namely Turkey, Syria and Iraq, are examined. Problems and misconceptions related to water utilization are analysed with regard to water availability, water loss, water rights, the role of dams and reservoirs, and environmental problems of the Mesopotamian marshlands. Advantages and areas of co-operation between riparians are reviewed. Water conflict in the Euphrates–Tigris basin requires a hydro-political approach that covers legal, political, technical and economic aspects of its multi-dimensional characteristics. Historical Perspective The Euphrates–Tigris and its tributaries served as the cradle for many civilizations that evolved in Mesopotamia, ‘the land between two rivers’. Historians have noted the progression of the Mesopotamian civilizations, with the oldest dating back to 10 000 BC. The well-known civilizations in Mesopotamia (Iraq) were those of the Sumerians, Acadians, Babylonians and Assyrians, who orga- nized efficient hydraulic civilizations that supported some 20 million inhabitants at their peak and were based on a well-maintained irrigation and flood control system. The history of water-related disputes in the Middle East, and especially in the Euphrates–Tigris basin, goes back 6000 years and is described in many myths, legends and historical accounts that have survived from earlier times. These disputes range from conflicts over access to adequate water supplies to intentional attacks on water supply systems during wars (Gleick, 1994). The fall of the Ottoman Empire resulted in new borders together with a new trans-boundary river basin in the Middle East. The present political boundaries in the basin were established in the early 1920s with the establishment of the states of Syria, Iraq and Turkey. A number of agreements have been reached between involved parties since 1926. The rise of hydro-political problems among the riparians of the Euphrates–Tigris goes back no more than 50 years. Soon after the Second World War, the need for the development of natural resources emerged in Turkey, Syria and Iraq. However, the highly erratic flows of the rivers have greatly limited the rate of utilization. It is estimated that during the Ottoman Empire (before 1920) only one-seventh of the irrigable land of Correspondence address: Dogan Altinbilek, Department of Civil Engineering, Middle East Technical University, 06531 Ankara, Turkey. Email: [email protected] 0790-0627 Print/1360-0648 Online/04/010015-19 2004 Taylor & Francis Ltd DOI: 10.1080/07900620310001635584 16 D. Altinbilek Iraq was being irrigated (Altinbilek, 1997). So, the construction of large dams to regulate river flows and extensive irrigation works were started, making once- abundant water a scarce commodity due to the consumptive use of irrigation as well as reservoir evaporation. The most important era of the negotiations on the waters of the Euphrates– Tigris basin involved Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meetings and Joint Technical Committee (JTC) meetings. These meetings were initiated in December 1980. Although 16 JTC meetings were held between 1981 and 1992, no consensus could be achieved for the settlement of disputes. The main argument of Iraq during the negotiations was over its ‘acquired rights’ or ‘historical rights’ which stem from the existing water installations and the ancestral irrigation systems. During JTC meetings Iraq refused to discuss the Tigris waters as the Tigris was regarded as Iraq’s sovereign right. Thus, a Turkish offer to compensate for the scarcity in the Euphrates by the surplus in the Tigris was rejected. The Syrian stand was based on the codification efforts in the field of trans-boundary rivers. According to the Syrian arguments, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are ‘international watercourses’ which should be classified as ‘shared resources’ and must be divided among riparian states according to a quota, on the basis of their declared demands. In fact, an agreement between Syria and Iraq was reached in 1990 on the use of Euphrates waters, stating that Iraq would receive 58% of the waters flowing in the Euphrates on the Turkish–Syrian border; Syria’s share is fixed at 42%. Since the water potential was unable to meet the declared needs of these three riparians, Turkey proposed in 1984 the ‘Three-Stage Plan for Optimum, Equi- table and Reasonable Utilization of Trans-boundary Watercourses of the Eu- phrates–Tigris Basin’, which involves: (1) compiling an inventory of water resources; (2) compiling an inventory of land resources; and (3) determining the optimum total water demands of each country for domestic, industrial and agricultural requirements. Syria and Iraq stated that the Turkish three-stage plan could not lead to an equitable and reasonable solution. They accused Turkey of trying to seize the largest portion of Euphrates waters, which should be accepted as collective property. They insisted that the Euphrates and Tigris are separate international rivers. The disagreements between Turkey and the other riparians continued during the filling of the Ataturk Dam reservoir and the building of the Karkamis dam. From 1996 onwards, there were also some unfruitful efforts to re-start JTC meetings. The water conflict over the Euphrates and Tigris rivers was temporar- ily frozen in 2003 due to a change of president in Syria and the occupation of Iraq by the Coalition Forces which ended the rule of the Baath regime. Geography and Hydrology of the Euphrates–Tigris Basin The Euphrates–Tigris basin is largely fed from snow precipitation over the uplands of north and eastern Turkey, Iraq and Iran. Extending for almost 3000 km, the Euphrates is the longest river in western Asia. Arising near Mount Ararat at heights of around 4500 m near Lake Van, the Euphrates drops on average 2 metres per kilometre of length in Turkey and then crosses into Syria flowing south-east (Figure 1). After travelling 680 km within Syria’s borders, the The Euphrates–Tigris Basin 17 Figure 1. General layout of the Euphrates–Tigris basin. Source: Altinbilek (1997). Euphrates enters Iraq at Al Qaim. In Iraq, 360 km from the border, the Euphrates reaches a giant alluvial delta at Ramadi where the elevation is only 53 m above sea level. From that point on, the river traverses the deserted regions of Iraq, losing part of its waters into a series of desert depressions and distributaries, both natural and man-made. Further downstream, near Nasiriyah, the river becomes a tangle of channels, some of which drain into the shallow lake of Hammar as the remainder joins the Tigris at Qurna. The Euphrates has a very gentle gradient in Iraq. 18 D. Altinbilek Table 1. Area of the Euphrates–Tigris drainage basin in riparian countries (km2) Tigris Euphrates Country km2 %km2 % Turkey 121 787 21.1 53 052 14.3 Syria 95 405 16.5 948 0.2 Iran — — 175 386 47.2 Iraq 282.532 49.0 142 175 38.3 Saudi Arabia 77.090 13.4 — — Total 576.814 100.0 371 561 100.0 Source: UNEP (2001). The River Tigris, which is the second-largest river in western Asia, originates near Lake Hazar (elevation 1150 m) in eastern Turkey. The Tigris is fed by several tributaries in Turkey. It forms the Turkish–Syrian boundary for 32 km, and crosses into Iraq. From the Iraqi border up to Mosul, the river is bordered by rolling hills on either side but is still confined to a deep valley in the Mosul area. Within Iraq, the Tigris has several tributaries which contribute significantly to the water potential of the river. The combined Euphrates and Tigris rivers are named Shatt-al-Arab, forming a river almost a kilometre wide and 190 km long. Iran is a co-riparian of the Tigris–Euphrates system by virtue of her contribution to the River Tigris via the lesser Zab, Diyalah and Kharun rivers. In addition, the River Kharkeh emanating from Iran flows into the Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq. Saudi Arabia is also a part of the drainage basin but does not have borders with or a contribution to the Euphrates. The Euphrates and Tigris rivers are considered parts of a single trans-boundary river system. They are linked by their natural course at Shatt-al-Arab, which constitutes a delta. The areas of the riparian countries in the Euphrates–Tigris basin are shown in Table 1. The estimates of mean annual natural runoff of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are given in Table 2. Although the Euphrates drains a larger surface area than does the Tigris, an overwhelming 98% of Euphrates runoff is produced in the highlands of Turkey while the remainder of its catchment is an arid region that makes little contribution. Turkey contributes an estimated 53% of the discharge of the Tigris. The rest of the Tigris’s flow is produced by tributaries descending from the Zagros mountains of Iran and Iraq. Turkey contributes 71.4% of the Euphrates and Tigris basin’s combined natural flow. The characteristic feature that distinguishes the hydrological regime of the Euphrates–Tigris river system is the irregularity of flow both between and within years, with large floods originating from the snow-melt in spring. The annual precipitation in the Anatolian and Zagros highlands exceeds 1000 mm. About two-thirds of the precipitation occurs in winter and may remain in the form of snow for half of the year. With snow-melt in spring, periodic flooding is observed downstream.

Load more