Kurdish PM Barzani criticizes “propaganda” over Erbil water crisis, promises 30-year solution

Shafaq News/ On Sunday, Kurdish PM Masrour Barzani criticized unnamed parties for using Erbil's long-standing summer water shortage as “a tool to fuel political conflicts” in the Kurdistan Region (KRI).

Speaking at a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the Erbil Emergency Water Supply Project, Barzani expressed regret that “the decades-old crisis had been turned into a propaganda campaign by some groups.”

“The problem cannot be resolved by tankers, as these parties have attempted.”

He further assured the public that “the new project, once completed, would address Erbil’s water needs for the next 30 years.”

Notably, The KRI is facing a growing water crisis, driven by a combination of climate change, inefficient water infrastructure, and geopolitical challenges. Recurrent droughts and changing rainfall patterns have affected water availability, impacting agriculture and livelihoods in the Region. KRI’s reliance on rain-fed agriculture makes it particularly susceptible to these environmental changes. Additionally, the Region’s location along the Tigris-Euphrates Basin inevitably places it at the center of political conflicts involving Turkiye, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.