‘No water, no life’: Iraq’s Tigris River in danger of disappearing | Rivers | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/16/no-water-no-life-iraqs-tigris-river-in-danger-of-disappearingthe health of the river has been in decline for decades. Iraq had state-of-the-art water infrastructure until the US made it a target in 1991’s Operation Desert Storm. With treatment plants destroyed, sewage flowed into the waterways. Years of sanctions and conflict mean the infrastructure has never fully recovered. Today, across southern and central Iraq, just 30% of urban households are connected to a sewage treatment facility. That number drops to 1.7% in rural areas.
In addition to municipal waste, chemical fertilisers and pesticides in agricultural runoff, industrial waste including from the oil sector, and medical refuse all find their way into the river. A 2022 study found that water quality at numerous sites in Baghdad was rated “poor” or “very poor”. In 2018, at least 118,000 people in the southern city of Basra were treated in hospital after drinking contaminated water.
The river has also dramatically shrunk in volume. In the past 30 years, Turkey has built major dams on the Tigris and the amount of water reaching Baghdad has decreased by 33%. Iran too has built dams and diverted water away from shared rivers that feed the Tigris. Within Iraq, water is frequently overused, especially in the agricultural sector that uses at least 85% of the country’s surface water.
The climate crisis is taking a toll. Iraq has recorded a 30%decline in precipitation and is in the grip of its worst drought in nearly a century. Demand for fresh water is expected to exceed supply by 2035. This summer, the Tigris was so low people could easily walk across it.