The Iraqi rides a donkey across the dried-up bottom of the lake – all that is left of Lake Hamrin, in the normal years of a key irrigation pond.
Iraq’s Lake Hamrin, once a vast reservoir northeast of Baghdad, which is the only source of water for irrigation across the province of Diyala, has almost dried up, a senior official said on Friday.
Consecutive years with low rainfall and a sharp reduction in current c water Down the Sirvan River from neighboring Iran much of the lake has turned into a dusty bowl, an AFP official said.
“There has been a sharp drop in the water level – the reserves are now 130 million cubic meters versus two billion cubic meters in the normal mode,” said Aung Dhiab, a senior adviser at the Ministry of Water Resources.
Dhiab said a number of factors were to blame, including the prolonged drought and the construction of an Iranian dam and projects to divert the river upstream.
Dhiab said this is not the first time the water level has fallen so low. “In 2009 lake dried completely. It was just a stream. ”
He said the impact on the surrounding farmland should not be underestimated.
“We have no other sources of water province-the volume entering Lake Hamrin is the volume used in the province ”.
He said the government had asked Iran to increase water flow across the border. Otherwise, all that could be done is to pray for more rainfall next year.
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Iraqi children are playing on a boat that is on the ground due to the reduction of Lake Hamrin – once the reservoir provided fish for the dinner table, as well as water for watering.
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Motorists no longer need the asphalt road on which Lake Hamrin used to cross, they can simply drive along the dried-up bottom of the lake.
The problem is not just for Diyala province. The World Bank predicts that without major changes, Iraq will lose 20 percent water resources until 2020.
The country is among the five most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and desertification. Water shortages have led to lower quotas this year for farmers growing rice and wheat.
Iraq’s upstream neighbors Iran, Turkey and Syria are experiencing similar shortcomings, which means that their appeals for help are generally falling headlong.
© 2022 AFP
Citation: Key Irrigation Reservoir in Iraq Close to Drying (May 20, 2022), obtained May 20, 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-key-iraq-irrigation-reservoir.html
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