(Hamrin) A senior official said on Friday that the reservoir of the dam in central Iraq known as Lake Hamrin has almost dried up due to reduced rainfall and reduced flow of water from neighboring Iran.
Posted yesterday at 4:01pm.
The water profile is important for Iraq, a semi-desert country with a population of 41 million. Baghdad regularly accuses its neighbors, notably Turkey and Iran, of being responsible for reducing the flow of incoming water into the country, particularly due to the construction of dams on rivers.
“There is a sharp drop in the water level: the current reserves are 130 million cubic metres, while the usual capacity is two billion cubic metres,” Aoun Diab told AFP on Friday. Hamrin Lake.
With a few pools of water left across the perimeter of the lake, an AFP photographer on site could see cracked dry land on Friday.
The lake, which serves as a reservoir for a dam of the same name in Diyala province, is fed by the Sirwan River from Iran. On the Iraqi side, at the source of Hamrin, there is also the Darbandikhan Dam.
Mr. Diab emphasized that “several factors” are behind this drought. “Years of drought have reduced the amounts of rain,” he said, also referring to “measures taken in neighboring Iran to divert rivers and build dams.”
The official confirmed that the phenomenon occurred in the past. “In 2009 there was a complete drought, and there was only one stream of water left,” he said.
He pointed to the impact of this on the agricultural region of Diyala. “There are no other sources of water in the province – the quantities coming into Hamrin Lake are the ones that are being used,” he said.
To replenish the lake, Mr. Diab had hoped for “a heavy rain that would make the coming year a fertile one”. The authorities also regularly appeal to neighboring countries to increase the flow of water entering Iraq.
The World Bank (WB) has estimated that in the absence of appropriate policies, Iraq could see a 20% decrease in available fresh water resources by 2050.
At the beginning of May, Hamrin Dam Director Shaaban Aifan confirmed that Darbandikhan Dam will release part of its water to partially re-float the lake.
“The (water) reserve in Hamrin is 10% of what it normally is,” he said.
