ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kirkuk’s waterworks are being pushed to their limits and water shortages are a growing concern, according to an official. Jihan Ibrahim, deputy head of Kirkuk’s water directorate, told Rudaw on Thursday that nearly 500,000 people receive water, but less than 150,000 of them are registered. Additionally, six water wells have gone dry in the past six weeks, the official added. “There is a lot of water wastage on the main pipelines and the recipients are not helping us to preserve water,” Ibrahim said, warning that underground water levels are decreasing. According to Ibrahim, some houses have as many as five pipes connected to the network. In some local neighborhoods, residents illegally attach smaller pipes to larger street pipes, allowing them to use more water. “We set up a water usage meter for one house. In one night, they were wasting 10 cubic-meters of water which is 10,000 liters,” Ibrahim explained. He said in Kirkuk’s Kurdistan neighborhood, whose residents complain of water shortages, had 3,000 houses prior to 2017; however, they have now increased to nearly 10,000 houses, but the water infrastructure has not been expanded. He noted that the southern parts of Kirkuk fare better because they are at a lower elevation. Water scarcity is a severe issue in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. The country is the fifth-most vulnerable nation to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the UN, yet it is lagging behind its neighbors when it comes to water resource planning.
