ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil governor on Saturday warned citizens against wasting water while pledging to support them as they suffer from the decreased amount of water amid a hot summer.
Omed Khoshnaw said that "despite the water shortage problem, we assure citizens that we will continue to serve them and tankers will be provided to neighborhoods whose water wells have problems" in a press conference.
The governor mentioned that Erbil is experiencing the first days of a prolonged issue dreaded for many months, as the effects of a dry year are starting to take a toll on the citizens.
However, he mentioned that the responsible authorities "since November have prepared everything to get ready for the hot summer days where water problems emerge."
The Kurdistan Region and Iraq are regularly affected by water shortages.
The province has allocated 7.6 billion Iraqi dinars for drilling 138 water wells and an additional 4.7 billion dinars to address "technical problems" in the wells and link them to their local neighborhoods' generators, according to Khoshnaw.
The governor sent a warning message to citizens who partake in water wastage. He called on "the media, religious leaders, academics, university professors, and civil society organizations" to spread awareness about refraining from wasting water and affirmed that legal action will be taken against citizens that don't conserve water.
Despite a rainy winter season where Erbil province experienced vast flooding, the excess water did not provide any benefits for the increase of groundwater, the governor regrettably said, with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole facing a difficult, dry summer ahead.
Iraq is the fifth-most vulnerable nation in the world to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity. The effects of climate change are surfacing at an alarming rate in the country, and a senior advisor at the Iraqi water resources ministry warned in April that the country's water reserves have halved since last year, due to a combination of drought, lack of rainfall, and declining water levels.
