Low water, toxic heavy metals in Garmiyan dam

KIFRI, Kurdistan Region - The water level in Bawashaswar dam in the Kurdistan Region’s southern Garmiyan administration is the lowest it has even been since the dam was completed a decade ago. Farmers are worried about losing their crops and an expert is warning about toxic levels of heavy metals in the water. 

“We’re going to lose everything if the dam dries out. We’ll have nothing left,” said farmer Fetah Hama Gharib.

Last year, he lost his wheat crop because of lack of rain. This year, he decided to plant vegetables, depending on water from the dam to irrigate the land, but he risks losing that too because there is less than a million cubic meters of water in the dam, down from 3.5 million cubic meters a year ago. 

“We release 24 inches of water every day. Even less than half of that water flows into the dam,” said dam manager Aziz Mohammed.

It has been a dry year across Iraq and neighbouring countries. Aid agencies said the wheat harvest is down by half in the Kurdistan Region and the Iraqi government announced plans to slash the area they will irrigate for winter crops. 

As the volume drops in Bawashaswar dam, the color of the water has changed and an expert warned that the concentration of minerals poses a threat to people and livestock.

“We discovered that in the water there is an excess of heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, aluminum, and some others that have direct effects on the health of humans,” said Abdulmutalib Rafaat, a geologist at the University of Garmian. “People should refrain from using the water. People should not use it for drinking or, to a certain extent, farming.”

Iraq is heavily dependent on water that comes from outside its borders and both Turkey and Iran are building dams on shared rivers. Baghdad recently signed an agreement with Ankara over sharing water that includes “a fair and equitable quota for Iraq across the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers,” Water Resources Minister Mehdi al-Hamdani told state media earlier this month. 

According to the United Nations, Iraq is the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to the effects of climate change, including rising temperatures and water shortages. 


Translation and video editing by Sarkawt Mohammed