Water resources: an agreement to resume technical dialogues and committees with Turkey and Iran

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[size=45]Baghdad / Firas Adnan
[size=45]The Ministry of Water Resources revealed an agreement on the return of technical negotiating committees with Turkey and Iran regarding water, confirming the government's intention to build small dams to store water in depressions, pointing out that the strategic storage has reached 12% of the capacity of Iraqi reservoirs.[/size]
[size=45]Ali Radhi, a spokesman for the ministry, said, “The Ministry of Water Resources is working on the water file on two axes, the first is internal through procedures in the country that prevent waste, and another external one is related to dialogues with neighboring countries.”[/size]
[size=45]Radi added, "Handling the lack of water revenues for Iraq only to climate changes is wrong, because we give this perception an excuse for the rest of the reasons and causes incorrectly."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out that “the revenues of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers decreased significantly,” stressing that “this is due to a major reason represented by the large expansion in the construction of reservoir dams and irrigation projects and the increase in the population, in addition to climate changes and the lack of rainfall.”[/size]
[size=45]Rady stressed, “These are all factors, some of which are technical and others natural, which together have greatly affected and led to a decrease in water revenues.”[/size]
[size=45]He noted, "The volume of water storage available in our dams and reservoirs has now reached 12% of Iraq's storage capacity, which is a very low rate."[/size]
[size=45]Rady continues, “The water revenues did not meet the requirements, so today we are releasing water storage to compensate for the shortfall in the lack of revenues to meet the needs.”[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, "The ministry is able to provide the main requirements, and there are no concerns about drinking water, human uses, and watering orchards."[/size]
[size=45]Radi added, "The wave of rain that fell during the past month had a good effect, and the evidence for this is the decision to increase the quantities planted during the winter agricultural season."[/size]
[size=45]He explained, "Iraq witnessed in 2019 a wet and abundant year. We were able, through the efforts of the Ministry, to store large quantities in dams and reservoirs of large capacity."[/size]
[size=45]Radi continued, "The year that followed was also moderate, but after that we faced two scarce seasons. We benefited from the previous storage capacity in providing the requirements."[/size]
[size=45]While he acknowledged that “the country is currently suffering from a storage vacuum,” he went back to talking about “important steps within the ministry’s strategy, and among what will be resorted to is: expanding the construction of water harvesting dams, which are small dams to benefit from all water imports in some depressions.” ".[/size]
[size=45]Radi continues, “The file of external negotiations on water is not a spur of the moment, but rather dates back to previous years.”[/size]
[size=45]And he stressed, "the need to give weight to this file through the federal government's follow-up and support, in order to ensure that Iraq obtains its rights."[/size]
[size=45]Radi pointed out that “the ministry sensed great support after the government formed the water file,” and he talked about “a meeting between the Minister of Water Resources, Aoun Diab, with the Iranian ambassador, and this is an important step through which discussion and agreement were made on high-level leaders’ meetings and the return of technical committees.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained, "Dhiab made contact with the Turkish president's envoy for water affairs, and it was agreed with him to return the committees and technical meetings."[/size]
[size=45]Radhi added, "The coming period will witness important, pivotal and essential steps that ensure that Iraq obtains its water rights in a fair manner."[/size]
[size=45]The Ministry of Water Resources had called for the formation of a joint committee of a political, technical and diplomatic nature in order to conduct negotiations with neighboring countries on the water file.[/size]
[size=45]For his part, the head of the Parliament’s Agriculture and Water Committee, Thaer Makhaif, said, “Parliament will not calm down unless there are effective and radical solutions regarding sharing water damage with Turkey and Iran.”[/size]
[size=45]He added, "There is a deliberate intention of these two countries towards Iraq regarding water, especially the Turkish carrot," warning that "this dam, if completed, will cause a water disaster in Iraq."[/size]
[size=45]He pointed out, “The previous government did not deal with this file seriously, and we raised many memorandums and hosted hosts, but all of them fell on deaf ears, and the neighborhood’s abuses of our water rights continued without deterrence, especially on the diplomatic level.”[/size]
[size=45]He stressed that "meetings took place with the ministers of foreign affairs, agriculture and water resources in the previous government, but all those meetings did not produce positive results and radical solutions to the crisis, especially at the level of external negotiation."[/size]
[size=45]He noted, "There is great interest in this issue from the current government, and we have seen this through the recent official positions, and we will see positive results soon through diplomatic dialogues with these two countries."[/size]
[size=45]And Makhaif went on to call for the formation of a technical delegation whose membership would be people with sectoral specializations in agriculture, water and diplomatic dialogues, in order to proceed with the negotiation process with the Turkish and Iranian sides, as promised by Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani.[/size]
[size=45]Adel al-Mukhtar, former adviser to the Parliamentary Agriculture Committee, believes that “Iraq is still suffering from mismanagement in the water file.”[/size]
[size=45]Al-Mukhtar added, “Farmers are continuing with the old irrigation system, despite the calls for the use of modern irrigation systems that were launched in 2017.”[/size]
[size=45]He explained, "The rain waves are important, but benefiting from them is supposed to be accompanied by urgent government measures and not to waste water, as happened in the past."[/size]
[size=45]Iraq is one of the five countries most affected by climatic changes and desertification, and it has suffered from severe water drought in recent years due to the lack of rainfall and the non-compliance of neighboring countries with international laws related to the sharing of damage in cross-border rivers.[/size][/size][/size]