After protests: Plan for "fair water distribution" to Al-Anbar farmers
Shafaq News – Al-Anbar
On Sunday, Local authorities in Al-Anbar revised the irrigation schedule to ensure fair water distribution after protests erupted over a campaign to shut down unauthorized outlets along the main canal of the Second Irrigation Station, Phase Four.
“Legal measures were taken against violators by closing unlicensed outlets and establishing a new irrigation schedule to enforce a rotation system, reduce water waste, and ensure equitable distribution among farmers,” Jamal al-Fahdawi, Director of the Al-Anbar Water Resources Directorate, said in a statement.
He added that the new system, based on scheduled water rotation, has proven effective but depends on close cooperation between government bodies, security forces, and farmers. “Our priority is sustainability and safeguarding everyone's rights, especially amid Iraq’s ongoing water challenges,” he vowed.
Despite the ministry’s intentions, the move sparked backlash. Members of Al-Bu Ali al-Jassim tribe expressed frustration over the shutdown of water supplies to their farmland, saying they had relied on those unlicensed outlets for cultivation and suffered direct harm from their closure.
In response to mounting complaints, Al-Anbar Governor Mohammad Nouri al-Dulaimi met with a delegation of tribal leaders and elders from Al-Bu Ali al-Jassim to hear their grievances and demands regarding the water cuts and the campaign's impact on their livelihoods.
The meeting resulted in new instructions from the governor, who ordered a reorganization of the irrigation schedule to ensure balanced distribution between both banks of the canal, based on a system of alternating water flow—eight hours for the right bank, followed by eight hours for the left.
