Shafaq News- Baghdad

Untreated sewage continues to flow into the Tigris River in Baghdad despite attempts to redirect the discharge rather than treat it, Shafaq News observed on Monday.

Two months after Shafaq News documented raw sewage being discharged directly into the Tigris without treatment, one government institution replaced the previous drainage method by installing plastic pipes that channel wastewater straight into the river instead of allowing it to flow down the riverbank.

Field observations also identified more than 10 similar discharge outlets and pipes along the Tigris in the capital, most of them between Bab Al-Muadham and Karrada areas.

River pollution has become a growing environmental challenge in Iraq, with untreated sewage, industrial waste, and declining water levels increasingly affecting the country's waterways. In recent months, pollution has been linked to mass fish die-offs in several provinces, including Wasit, Najaf, Babil, and Al-Diwaniyah, raising concerns over public health, biodiversity, and the deterioration of Iraq's freshwater ecosystems.

Read more: Death in the current: Pollution decimates Iraq’s river ecosystems