Iraq faces severe drought as water inflows decline
Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq is experiencing one of its most severe drought periods in recent years, driven by climate change and declining river inflows linked to upstream storage and irrigation projects, particularly in neighboring Turkiye, Iraqi Minister of Water Resources Aoun Diab Abdullah said on Monday.
Baghdad and Ankara signed the executive document of their water cooperation framework on November 2, 2025, granting Turkiye a five-year mandate to coordinate rapid water releases and related infrastructure, alongside a commitment to supply Iraq with about one billion cubic meters of water to help ease acute shortages.
Read more: Oil for Water: Iraq bets on new Turkiye deal to ease drought crisis
According to a statement, Abdullah chaired a meeting of the central crisis cell tasked with addressing water scarcity and removing violations, stressing the need for coordinated action by institutions and stakeholders to overcome the “harsh national water shortage.” Noting the importance of protecting river environments, he warned against dumping domestic and industrial waste into waterways to safeguard public health and preserve ecological river flows.
The meeting included a detailed briefing on the current water situation and available reserves, with comparisons to previous years, calculations of cultivated areas, monitoring of fish ponds, a map identifying licensed lakes, and monthly averages of salinity concentration levels along the Shatt al-Arab.
Read more: Basra’s lifeline poisoned: Salinity and pollution threaten Iraq’s south
With annual water inflows down to 25–40 billion cubic meters, roughly 30–40% of historical levels, and strategic reserves reduced to 7–10 billion cubic meters against needs exceeding 50 billion cubic meters, Iraq has imposed a restrictive agricultural policy that caps cultivation at 1.125 million hectares, mandates modern irrigation, and is expected to push wheat imports to about 2.4 million tons in the 2025–2026 season.
Read more: Iraq’s water crisis: A structural rewrite of agricultural governance
