Shafaq News – Baghdad

Drought has emerged as the most urgent and dangerous challenge for Iraq’s next government, with the Green IraqObservatory warning on Saturday that Tigris River levels remain unchanged despite the agreement with Turkiye.

In a statement, the observatory cautioned that Iraq’s water shortage is deepening and could reach “high-risk levels” by next summer, especially after a delayed and weaker-than-expected rainy season. This outcome contradicts earlier projections by the Ministry of Water Resources, which anticipated a wetter year that would raise levels in the Tigris, Euphrates, and major reservoirs — some of which have fallen below 4 percent of capacity.

The group noted that water levels in the Tigris remain visibly low, arguing that negotiations with Turkiye and the agreement signed earlier this year have done nothing to ease the crisis.

Continued deterioration could spark large-scale protests in southern provinces, the observatory cautioned, citing severe damage to agricultural land affected by desertification and neglect, along with mounting pressure on drinking-water supplies.

Iraq continues to face an exceptional water crisis that has dried up numerous tributaries and large sections of the southern marshes. Environmental projections by international climate institutions indicate that the country could see a 10–20 percent drop in annual rainfall by 2050, along with a temperature increase of 2–3 degrees Celsius.

Read more: Iraq’s water crisis deepens: Reserves collapse, mismanagement continues