Drought drains the Tigris River

The Tigris meanders through Iraq, from north to south. Thousands of years ago, it was, together with the twin Euphrates River, an important part in Mesopotamia becoming what is usually called the cradle of civilization.

Today, the once mighty water flow has been choked by dams and is also decreasing as a result of less and less rainfall.

“Our life depends on the Tigris,” says farmer Pibo Hassan Dolmassa in the town of Faysh Khabur.

— All our work, our agriculture, depends on it.

The Tigris runs through Iraq from north to south.

Kurdish farmers and the Iraqi government blame Turkey, its neighbor to the north, for falling water levels. That is where the river begins, and many dams have been built there. Iraq has repeatedly asked Turkey to let more water through, but Turkey’s ambassador to Iraq, Ali Riza Güney, has instead urged Iraq to use the water more efficiently.

The Turkish ambassador is probably not entirely wrong, according to experts. Many Iraqi farmers cultivate their land the way their ancestors did thousands of years ago, flooding it rather than irrigating it. But the water level where the Tigris flows into Iraq has dropped to 35 percent of its average level over the past century, according to Iraqi statistics.

The Diyala, a tributary that meets the Tigris near the capital Baghdad, is now a collection of pools of stagnant water. Stock image. More and more desert

Today, Iraq is one of the five countries most affected by climate change, according to the UN. Poverty is widespread after decades of war and periods of drought, and more and more of the country’s surface is turning into desert.

Not much remains of the Diyala tributary that meets the Tigris near the capital, Baghdad. The authorities have decided that no crops should be grown in the area.

“We will have to give up farming and sell our animals,” says farmer Abu Mehdi, who says he was forced to leave the area during the war against Iran in the 1980s.

— And now we have to leave because of the water. Without water, we cannot live in these areas at all.

According to the World Bank, it is likely that large parts of Iraq will suffer the same fate in the coming decades, as a result of climate change that brings increased temperatures and less and less rain.

Fishermen on the Tigris River during a sandstorm that turns the sky orange. Due to the low water flow, more and more salt water enters the river, which affects the fishing. Moves due to the climate

Water shortages and food insecurity are two of the main reasons why people in Iraq move from rural areas to cities. In the first three months of the year, over 3,300 families were forced to leave their homes because of the climate, according to the UN migration agency IOM.

Sand and soil previously washed away by the Tigris water flow now stops and forms new sandbanks. The authorities have previously dredged the mud, but the work has slowed down due to insufficient funds. Years of war have destroyed the water infrastructure and many cities, factories and other businesses have instead dumped their waste into the river, causing the water to threaten both marine and human life.

In the city of Basra, once called the Venice of the Middle East, the flow of water is obstructed by debris. And because the water flow in the river decreases, the salinity in the water increases as seawater more easily comes up the rivers and out onto the fields.

It also affects fishing, where freshwater fish have to give way to saltwater fish in the shrinking rivers.

— In the summer, we have salt water. The sea water is rising and coming here, says fisherman Naim Haddad in Shatt al-Arab

— If the water disappears, the fishing disappears. And with it also our livelihood.