• Government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting the feeder streams and rivers; a once sizable population of Marsh Arabs, who inhabited these areas for thousands of years, has been displaced; furthermore, the destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations;

• Inadequate supplies of potable water;

• Development of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers system contingent upon agreements with upstream riparian Turkey;

• Air and water pollution;

• Soil degradation (salination) and erosion; and,

• Desertification

 

Iraq is susceptible to dust storms; sandstorms; and floods.

 

• Total Renewable Water Resources:  96.4 cu km (1997)
• Freshwater Withdrawal: 42.7 cu km/yr   (3% domestic, 5% industrial, 92% agricultural)
• Per Capita Freshwater Withdrawal: 1,482 cu m/yr (2000)
• Access to improved water sources: 79% of population
• Access to improved sanitation facilities: 73% of population

River Basins

 

There is only one river basin in Iraq, the Shatt Al-Arab basin. The Shatt Al-Arab is the river formed by the confluence downstream of the Euphrates and the Tigris and flows into the Persian Gulf after a course of only 190 kilometers (km). Before their confluence, the Euphrates flows for about 1,000 km and the Tigris for about 1,300 km respectively within the Iraqi territory. Nevertheless, due to the importance of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the country is generally divided into three river basins: the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Shatt Al-Arab (referring to the part downstream of the confluence of the two rivers). 

 

 Surface Water Resources

 

Both the Tigris and the Euphrates are international rivers originating in Turkey. The Tigris river basin in Iraq has a total area of 253,000 km2, or 54% of the total river basin area. 

 

The average annual flow of the Euphrates as it enters Iraq is estimated at 30 cubic kilometers (km3), with a fluctuating annual value ranging from 10 to 40 km3. Unlike the Tigris, the Euphrates receives no tributaries during its passage in Iraq. About 10 km3 per year are drained into the Hawr al Harnmar (a marsh in the south of the country). 

 

 

The Karun river, originating in Iran flows with its mean annual flow of 24.7 km3 into the Shatt Al-Arab. It brings a large amount of fresh water into the Shatt Al-Arab, just before it reaches the sea. 

 

The Euphrates and the Tigris are subject to large and possibly disastrous floods. The level of water in the Tigris can rise at the rate of over 30 centimeters per hour (cm/hour). In the southern part of the country, immense areas are regularly inundated, levees often collapse, and villages and roads must be built on high embankments. The Tharthar reservoir was planned inter alia in the 1950s to protect Baghdad from the ravages of the periodic flooding of the Tigris by storing extra water discharge upstream of the Samarra barrage. 

 

 

Good quality subterranean water has been found in the foothills of the mountains in the northeast of the country and in the area along the right bank of the Euphrates: 

•the aquifer in the north-east of the country has an estimated sustainable discharge of between 10 and 40 m3/second, at depths of five to fifty meters. Its salinity increases towards the south-east of the area, where it reaches 1 milligrams (mg)/1; 

•the aquifers on the right bank of the Euphrates river are found at depths up to 300 m, and have an estimated discharge of 13 m3/s. Salinity varies between 0.3 and 0.5 mg/l. 

 

In other areas of the country, groundwater is also found, but always with a salinity level higher than 1 mg/l. 

 

Total water withdrawal is estimated at 42.8 km3 in 1990, of which 92% is used for for agricultural purposes (3% is used for domestic supplies and 5% for industrial use). According to the most recent estimates, 85% of river water withdrawal is used for agricultural purposes. 

 

The World Bank reports that at least 80 countries have water shortages and 2 billion people lack access to clean water. More disturbingly, the World Health Organization has reported that 1 billion people lack enough water to simply meet their basic needs, unfortunately in many countries water is scarce or contaminated.

Pure Aqua provides wide range of filtration and economical solutions based on the Iraq’s water resources.

Iraq’s main water resources are:

• Surface water is water from river, lake or fresh water wetland, which can be treated using different methods, such as Ultrafiltration Systems, Brackish Water RO.
• Desalination can be used for water from ocean, or sea source, which can be treated using Seawater Reverse Osmosis Systems; Desalination Systems
• Ground Water or brackish water is from water located in the pore space of soil and rock “Borehole well”, which can be treated using Reverse Osmosis Systems, Chemical Dosing, UV Water Sterilizers.
• Government water supply, which could have high level of hardness or high level of chlorine, can be treated with Water Softeners, Media Water Filters

Pure Aqua manufacture water treatment systems in Iraq that meets the World Health Organization requirements.