Baghdad / NINA / – The specialist in managing state institutions in crises, Ali Jabbar Al-Freiji, affirmed that the successive governments of the state and the weakness of the Iraqi negotiator in negotiating with upstream countries about the water crisis are a major cause of the water drought afflicting Iraq, pointing out: “The global index predicts a drought of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers completely, by 2040.

Al- Freiji said in a statement to the National Iraqi News Agency (NINA): “For more than a century, the Iraqi governments have failed to sign a binding agreement with the two neighbors (Iran and Turkey) that guarantees Iraq’s water rights permanently,” adding: “The water crisis is considered the oldest in Iraq, as the year 1920 witnessed the signing of “tripartite and bilateral” agreements between Iraq, Turkey and Syria to divide water in accordance with the international standards followed at the time, but all agreements are suspended and inactive, and there are many protocols of understanding, but they remain non-binding.

He explained that “the water resources coming from Iran, which represents 35% of the total annual flows in Iraq, have decreased to two-thirds due to the establishment of dams and large facilities from the Iranian side on those rivers that changed their normal status, and the remaining 60-65% of Turkey and the rains.” He pointed out: “The water level has fallen to 8 billion cubic meters, compared to the water flows in April 2019”./

Source: National Iraqi News Agency