The salt tongue invades the Shatt al-Arab and reaches unprecedented levels

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[size=52]The salt tongue invades the Shatt al-Arab and reaches unprecedented levels[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Mustafa Al-Jourani[/size]
[size=45]The Shatt al-Arab, in southern Iraq, suffers from a significant increase in salinity rates. Which portends a new water crisis in the country, amid calls for quick solutions to this crisis. The Shatt al-Arab consists of the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, north of Basra Governorate, and as a result of the drop in the water level from the upstream countries (Turkey and Iran), the Shatt al-Arab receives the salty waters of the Persian Gulf, according to observers.[/size]
[size=45]According to the standards of the World Health Organization, the percentage of salinity in drinking water should not exceed 500 degrees of the “TDS” standard, while the salinity in Basra exceeds this number.[/size]
[size=45]Figures and Statistics[/size]
[size=45]Zuhair Jawad, Basra Water Director, said, in an interview with Al-Mada, that "the rise in salts in the Shatt Al-Arab was due to the decline in releases from the regulator of Qal'at Saleh in Maysan Governorate; As well as the closure of the Karun River flow from the Iranian side; Which led to the entry of the salt tide from the Arabian Gulf into the Shatt al-Arab.” Jawad added, "The solutions proposed and are being worked on are the use of the Marashnah in Abu Al-Khasib from the Mahila desalination plant, the Al-Abbas project and the irrigation canal, and the use of water from the irrigation canal for the Sihan and Al-Faw regions; As well as the use of Al-Marashna for the city center from the water of the Al-Abbas project; As well as the operation of the Japanese project at approximately 60% of its capacity, and in the Shatt al-Arab, the irrigation canal of the district center is used, the central project.” Regarding salinity rates in the Shatt al-Arab, he pointed out that “the rise reached nearly a third to half of what it reached in 2018, which is The year in which the salts reached record proportions that they did not reach previously.”[/size]
[size=45]ministerial attachment[/size]
[size=45]Meanwhile, the Director of Water Resources in Basra Governorate, Jumaa Shaya, said, “The waters of the Shatt al-Arab have recently recorded a significant increase in salinity, and the main reason for this is the tide coming from the Arab Gulf states due to climatic changes and weather disturbances that occurred in the Gulf states. Arab countries, namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Iran. He pointed out, in a statement followed by (Al-Mada), that "climatic changes such as rain, torrential rain and floods that occur these days in the Arab Gulf countries have affected the Basra Governorate in a large and direct way, because the Shatt Al-Arab is directly linked to the Arabian Gulf," noting that "the tide in such weather disturbances The climate is enormous and very high, so the salinity rate in the Shatt al-Arab water increases.”[/size]
[size=45]The government official explained that "there is a rapid trend to reduce the high level of salinity in the waters of the Shatt al-Arab, including an increase in the rate of water releases quickly, reaching 94 cubic meters per second." The United Nations warned, earlier, of a drop in the level of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq by up to 73 percent, and also called for Iraq's participation in meaningful discussions with neighboring countries on water sharing.[/size]
[size=45]solutions to the crisis[/size]
[size=45]In addition, Nasir Abdul-Ridha, an expert in the field of agriculture and water, said, "The percentage of salinity in the Shatt al-Arab exceeded the permissible figures globally, and this portends a new environmental catastrophe for Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]Speaking to Al-Mada, Abdul-Ridha added that "the increase in water releases, especially by the Iranian side, is the most prominent solution now for the Iraqi government to overcome the salinity crisis in the Shatt Al-Arab." The water expert suggested the construction of a dam on the Shatt al-Arab in order to raise the two sides of the Shatt al-Arab to prevent the entry and exit of water into the Gulf, and thus can control salinity. It is noteworthy that the current President of the Republic, Barham Salih, confirmed that climate change will push Iraq towards a water deficit of 10.8 billion cubic meters by 2035.[/size]
[size=45]The Director of the National Center for Water Resources Management, Hatem Hamid, had said in previous statements, "The Ministry of Water Resources is subjected to two types of water abuse." Hamid added, "The abuses are sometimes by citizens, and at other times they are by local administrations." 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 abuses, as during this year we were able to reduce abuses in order to deliver water quotas to the rivers." He spoke about "the possibility of saying that the rate of abuse is much lower than it was in previous years."[/size]
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