Overview
- The Euphrates has dropped to some of the lowest levels on record, according to assessments cited by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources warns the river could run dry by 2040 without immediate intervention.
- NASA satellite data show the Tigris–Euphrates basins lost about 117 million acre-feet of freshwater from 2003 to 2009, with most of the loss coming from groundwater pumping.
- Hydrologists point to prolonged drought linked to climate change and weak cross-border water management over dams and withdrawals as key causes of the decline.
- Health groups in Iraq report outbreaks of diarrhea, chicken pox, measles, typhoid, and cholera as access to clean water worsens, putting communities at acute risk.