Rising Euphrates reaches Hit’s waterwheels after Haditha Dam releases

ANBAR — The rising Euphrates has reached the traditional waterwheels of Hit after releases from Haditha Dam, prompting authorities to deploy river police boats, reinforce the banks and warn farmers to move livestock, while residents and visitors urged that the extra water be sent to the drought-hit south.

The river’s discharge has reached 1,000 cubic meters per second, according to local water resources officials. “The situation is completely under control despite the rising water level and a discharge of 1,000 cubic meters per second,” Muayyad Hussein, head of the Water Resources Department in Hit, told 964media. Teams were monitoring embankments along the river and reinforcing weak sections, he said, and river police had deployed four boats and rescue equipment alongside Civil Defense teams.

Hussein urged residents to keep children away from the river and farmers to move irrigation pumps and livestock to safety. The city’s waterwheel park would stay open because it is the only recreational space local families have, he said.

Local artist Hamid al-Arabi called on the government to use the higher flows to build dams and reservoirs and restore existing lakes. “Summer in Iraq is always harsh because of the heat. Our appeal today, with these quantities of water released from Haditha Dam, is for the government to make use of this abundance by building new dams and lakes or maintaining existing ones, such as Tharthar, Habbaniyah and Razzaza,” he said, pointing to Turkey’s use of dams.

Muzaffar Abbadi, a visitor from Hilla in Babil, said the south had yet to see any of it. “Southern areas have suffered from drought over the past years. Seeing this water is a blessing and a mercy, and we hope it brings good, but the water has not yet reached us in the south,” he said. “People there have left their land and sold their livestock because of water scarcity. We hope our areas receive a fair share of this abundance.”

Iraq’s water reserves stood at more than 31 billion cubic meters after a noticeable rise in inflows on the Tigris and Euphrates, enough to meet planned agricultural needs, the Water Resources Ministry said on Sept. 15. In late July it put storage at about 34 billion cubic meters, nearly seven times the level a year earlier, and forecast entering winter at just over 20 billion.

More than 70% of Iraq’s water comes from neighboring countries, mainly Turkey, followed by Iran and Syria. Turkish dams cut flows downstream, and Iran has dammed and diverted tributaries of the Tigris. This year’s recovery followed a wetter-than-normal winter that refilled reservoirs, lakes and parts of the southern marshes after officials warned of the worst shortage in decades, a partial restoration that does not resolve the country’s structural scarcity.