The drying up of water storage reaches the second level..and fears of the continued lack of revenues

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[size=52]The drying up of water storage reaches the second level..and fears of the continued lack of revenues[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad/ Firas Adnan[/size]
[size=45]The Ministry of Water Resources confirmed that the drought in water storage has reached the second level, and expressed its hope that next year will witness revenues that will help Iraq to overcome the stage of danger.[/size]
[size=45]The Director of the National Center for Water Resources Management, Hatem Hamid, said, "The Ministry of Water Resources is exposed to two types of abuses on water, the first falls on water quotas and the second falls on water projects."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid added, "The General Authority for the Operation of Irrigation and Drainage Projects of the Ministry is following up on water releases from dams for the purpose of securing expenses for all governorates."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "This is according to the plan prepared at the beginning of the summer season or the beginning of the winter season," stressing that "the abuses are sometimes by citizens, and at other times they occur by local administrations."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid explained, "One of the abuses of the local administration is what the governor of Babylon did a while ago by opening a regulator, but this problem was solved and the regulator was reorganized according to the operational plans prepared by the Ministry of Water Resources."[/size]
[size=45]And he stated, "A part of the citizens who are in the rivers consume more water than the water rations allocated to them, which reduces the quotas of those in the back of the rivers."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid continues, "The ministry is carrying out a campaign to remove the abuses. During this year, we were able to reduce the abuses in order to deliver the water quotas to the rivers."[/size]
[size=45]He spoke about "the possibility of saying that the percentage of overrun is much lower than it was in previous years," noting that "the water file is dealt with on two axes, the first external and the second internal."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid said, "The external aspect is an attempt to hold meetings with the Turkish and Iranian sides to ensure the release of water according to the approved quantities and the sharing of damage in accordance with international laws."[/size]
[size=45]And he added, "The internal aspect is to ensure the preparation of a plan to divide the water quotas for all projects and governorates according to the determinants."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid continues, "The priority at home is for drinking water, orchards, and agricultural and environmental water, which includes the share of Basra Governorate and the Marshes."[/size]
[size=45]He added, "This plan is being followed up by the departments affiliated with the Ministry of Water Resources, especially the General Authority for Operation and Irrigation Project Management, and to hold violators accountable by filing lawsuits and following them up in the courts to reduce abuses."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid added, "Our efforts are also focused on raising the pumps installed outside the controls, or that their owners did not obtain official approvals to operate them, and to reduce the channels that take water towards the fish-breeding lakes without approval."[/size]
[size=45]He noted that these "measures carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources aim to deliver water fairly to all governorates, according to the prepared plan."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid warned that "the southern governorates are the most affected by these abuses," noting that "our work ended many transgressions that were on the Euphrates River, especially in the Muthanna Governorate, and the delivery of the drainage to the entire Dhi Qar Governorate."[/size]
[size=45]And he went on to other transgressions, "located from Samarra Dam to the south of Baghdad Governorate. Work is underway to reduce it, and we have succeeded to some extent, but there are other measures to ensure that the shares of other governorates are not affected."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid indicated, "The water reserves available to Iraq at the present time are 60% less than last year, and 80% before it."[/size]
[size=45]He stated, "The ministry is trying to manage this storage according to the plan laid down in the strategic study that was approved in 2014 by dividing the storage according to the borders into three categories."[/size]
[size=45]Hamid added, "Iraq is currently still in the second limit of drought, and we hope that we will remain at this level and that next year its water revenues will be good in order to rise to the first limit or the safe limit. But if the next season comes dry as well, we can descend to the third critical limit." We are facing great difficulties in meeting our water needs.”[/size]
[size=45]The spokesman for the ministry, Ali Radi, had stated, "Iraq has two plans, the first is to use water releases from dams and reservoirs to meet the main requirements, which are agricultural land, which is the largest consumer, drinking water, and the share of the marshes, in addition to pushing the salt tongue from the Shatt al-Arab water."[/size]
[size=45]Radi added, "This plan coincides with a second plan for water distributions, which is related to the management of distributions, the application of the Marashnah system, and the lifting of abuses in order to make the agricultural plan a success, secure water for it, and ensure that water reaches the areas located in the rivers that suffer from a crisis in access to water."[/size]
[size=45]He talked about "other measures related to re-drilling wells and rehabilitating a large part of them in areas where access to healthy water is difficult." Radi affirmed, "The only solution that the Ministry of Water Resources is working on in conditions of scarcity is to reduce the agricultural plan to 50%."[/size]
[size=45]He noted, "The marshes suffered from water scarcity, but within the ministry's plan, there are quantities that will reach them, but we suffer from some encroachments on the waterways."[/size]
[size=45]Radi added, "The sources of nutrition for the marshes are not only from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, so what concerns us as the Ministry of Water Resources, we work to provide a certain amount of this water to revitalize the marshes."[/size]
[size=45]It is noteworthy that experts have warned on more than one occasion of the water crisis and stated that drought will strike Iraq, stressing that the problem is exacerbated today, through the displacement of many residents of the marsh areas in addition to the destruction of animals, and other things that we previously warned about and called for a review of plans agricultural, with the transition to modern irrigation systems, stressing that these solutions can fill us with the crisis in the marshes and the southern governorates.[/size]
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