ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The head of Soran’s water directorate warned on Thursday that the district and surrounding villages might face severe water shortages over the summer, due to drought and insufficient water projects.
Tahsin Saadullah, head of Soran’s water directorate told Rudaw that the city center is already facing water shortages.
“Drought and the lack of necessary [water] projects are the reason for water shortages,” he said.
For the last three years, Soran district has relied on water tankers during summer to address water shortages.
“Out of 800 villages in Soran, 50 to 60 villages are provided with water through water tankers.”
The main water source in most of the villages within the district is water wells and springs, but most have been largely depleted or dried due to the previous years' drought.
“This year saw a lot of snow and rainfall, but we have three difficult months ahead of us, and we will see whether the villages have passed drought or not,” Saadullah noted.
Soran has an estimated 205,000 residents, and with the increasing population, water demands are rising. Saadullah said the city requires around 4,000 cubic meters of water, but can only produce 3,000 through its current water projects.
Droughts in Iraq have become more frequent and last longer. Water reserves have decreased by half since 2022 due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining river levels, according to the water ministry.
Iraq’s water resources ministry is planning to build more than 35 dams across the country in 2024 in an attempt to combat worsening drought and water scarcity. A spokesperson for the ministry said last August 2023 that Iraq’s water reserves are at the lowest in the country’s history.
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