Iraq’s Minister of Water Resources Aoun Diab Abdulla said that there is no necessity to construct new dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, citing the completion of 36 to 40 small dams by early next year.
Abdullah told the Sabah newspaper that the waves of rainfall, which began late last year and continue until now, have increased the volume of water stored, so this year has witnessed a reserve of four billion cubic meters more water compared to last year.
He said Iraq does not need to build new dams on both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as it has a huge storage capacity of 40 billion cubic meters of water in the Sarsar dam.
He added that between 36 to 40 small dams, aimed at storing rainwater, will be finalized by the end of this year and early next year across five provinces, including Anbar, Najaf, Karbala, Maysan, and Nineveh.
Abdulla stressed that Iraq has refused to allow Turkey to build the Jazira dam on the Euphrates River and has not reached an agreement with the country on Iraq’s water share.
