Water crisis shuts down major Babil project
Shafaq News – Babil
A severe drop in the Shatt al-Hilla’s water level caused a complete water outage in Babil, southern Iraq, the Province’s Water Directorate announced on Saturday.
In a statement, the directorate announced that the Al-Mahawil water project was forced to shut down due to a sharp decline in water levels, adding that emergency maintenance teams are working to restore operations and resume water delivery as soon as possible.
Al-Mahawil water project refers to a series of local water management and infrastructure initiatives centered around the Al-Mahawil stream, a crucial branch of the Euphrates River in the Babil province. While not a single, large-scale project, these efforts are vital for the agricultural and drinking water needs of the district.
Babil is now at the heart of Iraq’s deepening water crisis. Years of upstream depletion, climate stress, and government neglect have left rivers nearly dry, forcing farmers and herders to abandon their land. With crop cultivation suspended and livestock perishing, residents face an uncertain future—many selling what little they have to survive.
Earlier, Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources described this year as one of the driest since 1933, noting that water inflows into the Tigris-Euphrates basin are at just 27% of last year’s levels. It also reported that current storage in dams and reservoirs stands at only 8% of total capacity—a 57% decrease.
