Sulaimani officials warn urban centres will have less water this summer

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Officials in Sulaimani province are warning people that municipal water supplies are low, urging them to use less. The situation will get much worse as we enter the hot, dry summer months, according to an expert. 

Chamchammal will only be able to provide water for households to fill their tanks twice a month. “As you are aware of the terrible condition people of our area face due to the water shortage, it is at the point that in summer households will get water supplies only twice a month,” reads a statement from the mayor’s office on Tuesday. 

Addressing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), the mayor said the water shortage will likely raise the risk of the spread of disease “because the amount of water people receive is too low and not enough for their daily needs.”

This past winter and spring saw much less snow and rain fall than average and neighbouring countries have built many dams in recent years, holding onto the water in shared rivers. The result is a disaster for the Kurdistan Region and Iraq. 

“Iraq is a receiver country not a source of water, and now that Iran and Turkey have built dams on the water sources, it has terribly affected the water levels in the Kurdistan Region,” Abdulmutalib Raafat Sarhat, a civil and environmental engineer specializing in water management at the University of Garmian, told Rudaw English on Wednesday.

The Kurdistan Region will face a major water crisis this summer, he warned. 

Spring is usually a season when the Kurdistan Region saves water, storing it in dams and reservoirs, “and already we are struggling. It is going to be much worse when we step into July,” he said. He called on the KRG to start building dams in order to save rainwater and take steps to preserve groundwater resources, which are also dropping. 

The KRG has long planned to build more dams, though financial problems have put construction on hold. Earlier this month, the agriculture ministry announced a plan to build nine strategic dams.  

A drought will have a knock-on effect for years, said Sarhat. “As we have seen, whenever there is a drought, it does not get better immediately the following year, it rather takes a few years,” he said.

Iraq is the world's 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 neighbours when it comes to a plan to protect its water resources. 

Tehran is building a network of dams and canals and Ankara has constructed a mega-dam on the Tigris River at the cost of the ancient city of Hasankeyf that is now under water.

“While the KRG might not have the diplomatic means to solve this issue on a state level, it is the duty of the Iraqi government to solve this issue with neighboring countries and perhaps file a lawsuit, as this is a violation of international laws,” Sarhat said.

The United Nations’ Watercourses Convention of 1997 governs trans-boundary water resources, however only a few dozen states are party to the convention, under which nations are obligated to respect and equitably share their neighbors’ water resources. Syria and Iraq have signed. Turkey and Iran have not.

Turkey and Iran in March said they would cooperate with Iraq on water issues.

Kurdish farmers have warned of a “catastrophe” as Iran blocks the water supply into the Region. Farmers are already affected by water shortages. Shepherds in Garmiyan have abandoned their traditional farming areas to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Directors of the Duhok and Dukan dams have both previously raised concerns about low water levels.

Many people in villages are moving to bigger cities because of water shortages, according to Sarhat. But the urban centres are not immune to the crisis. The head of Sulaimani’s water directorate told local media on Sunday that the city’s water supply is low and asked residents to “shower less.”