Iraq’s Tigris and Euphrates post modest water level increase

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Water levels in Iraq’s Tigris and Euphrates rivers have recorded a limited rise in recent days following years of decline, according to Iraq Green Observatory.

The observatory attributed the increase to lower temperatures that reduced domestic and agricultural consumption, alongside recent rainfall across wide areas of the country. It also noted that flash floods in several provinces added volumes to both rivers, with part of the inflow retained through storage.

Upstream flooding, it added, prompted Turkiye to release extra water through the Tigris, contributing to the rise inside Iraq, warning that water negotiations with upstream countries remain stalled. “Previous talks failed to establish fixed release schedules amid concerns over drought, domestic demand, agriculture, and hydropower generation.”

The observatory urged the Ministry of Water Resources to maximize current and anticipated rain systems by increasing storage at dams and regulators to secure sufficient reserves for the summer.

The recent rise follows a period of severe shortage. In 2024, total annual inflows to Iraq dropped to less than 30% of normal levels, reducing national water reserves to around 10–11 billion cubic meters, compared with more than 50 billion cubic meters in wet years.

In 2025, combined inflows from the Tigris–Euphrates basin fell to about 27% of the previous year’s levels, while active storage in major reservoirs declined to the lowest levels in decades. Environmental observatories estimate that Iraq would need over 100 billion cubic meters of additional water to restore river levels and strategic reserves to near-normal conditions.

Read more: Iraq’s water crisis deepens: Reserves collapse, mismanagement continues