Invasive plants and bacteria threaten Iraq’s Euphrates

BAGHDAD:(Web News) Iraq’s Euphrates River is running at historically low levels as the drought-stricken country faces its worst water scarcity in living memory.
Its 46 million people face rising temperatures, chronic water shortages, and year-on-year droughts, in a country intensely impacted by climate change.
The impact has been felt most acutely in the south, where reduced flow is fueling water pollution and the rapid spread of algae.
The once-mighty Tigris and Euphrates, which have irrigated the country for millennia, originate in Turkey, and authorities in Iraq have repeatedly blamed upstream Turkish dams for significantly reducing river flows.
“In recent weeks, the Euphrates has seen its lowest water levels in decades,” particularly in the south, said Hasan Al-Khateeb, an expert from the University of Kufa.
Iraq currently receives less than 35 percent of its allocated share of the Tigris and Euphrates, according to authorities.
To maintain the flow of the Euphrates, Iraq is releasing more water from its dwindling reservoirs than it receives, a measure that may not be sustainable.
Khaled Shamal, spokesman of the Water Resources Ministry, said that water reserves in artificial lakes “are at their lowest in the history of the Iraqi state.”
Reserves have fallen from 10 billion cubic meters in late May to less than 8 billion, which is less than 8 percent of their capacity.