The Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources reported today, Saturday, that Prime Minister Muhammad Shiya al-Sudani has prioritized the water issue and classified it as a sovereign file, as Iraq is undergoing significant drought.
The ministry's spokesperson, Khaled Shamal, stated, "Iraq is suffering from a significant storage deficit, and increasing reserves is linked to rainfall in northern Iraq, while the rest of the country relies on these rains for irrigation, soil moisture, and increasing vegetation cover."
He added, "The rain that fell this season was not sufficient to help fill the dams."
He confirmed that "the water storage issue is related to what comes to Iraq through the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from Syria and Turkey, as well as tributaries from Iran."
He noted that "more than 60% of Iraq's water revenues come from Turkey, which, in return, is holding back the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates in its dams. Based on these data, Iraq is experiencing a drought period and is the fifth most affected country in the world by climate change and drought."
Earlier, the Ministry of Water Resources had warned that the water situation in Iraq is the worst since the 1930s.
