12 villages face drought in Iraq's Babil as canal dries

Shafaq News- Babil

A severe water shortage has dried up most of the Al-Jarbouiya canal, a key Euphrates tributary in southern Babil, cutting water supply to more than 12 villages in Al-Qasim district.

Footage captured by Shafaq News on Tuesday shows the canal reduced to cracked earth, with children grazing livestock along its dry bed. Residents told our agency that poor water distribution and encroachment on water shares by influential actors have significantly reduced flow into the canal.

“We urgently call on the authorities and all concerned parties to intervene,” said Nasser Ghafel, a local, adding that the shutdown of the local water treatment plant has intensified the drinking water crisis and forced families to leave their homes and farmland as conditions deteriorate.

Water flows into Iraq from the Tigris and Euphrates have declined sharply in recent years. Official data shows that river inflows have dropped by around 70% in some areas, pushing authorities to rely on emergency reserves and scale back agricultural activity.

In Babil, sections of the Euphrates shrunk to narrow streams, farmland deteriorated, and families abandoned villages as water supplies continued to decline. 95% of unauthorized fish farms in the province have been dismantled to divert water toward drinking and farming needs.