Lake Hamrin, a reservoir about 50 kilometers northeast of Baqubah, the capital of Iraq’s Diyala province, has almost completely dried up (see video). The lake, which is about 25 km² larger than Lake Neusiedler with an area of 340 square kilometers, used to supply 80 percent of the people in Diyala with water.
Nearly 61,000 hectares of farmland in the surrounding Hamrin region is now in danger of turning into a desert landscape, as a drone video (above) shows. A very dangerous development that, according to local authorities, could force dozens of local people to leave their homes and look for work elsewhere, such as in urban areas.
Because Hamrin Lake, which was created in the early 1980s and could hold more than two billion cubic meters of water, also provided the necessary water for date palm plantations and other agricultural activities near the coast.
“Suffering from an acute water shortage”
“It is known that Lake Hamrin had a water reservoir of more than three million cubic meters during the flood season of 2019. But now we are facing an acute water shortage in the lake, which currently contains less than 100,000 cubic meters of water,” explains Ali Al-Hajiyah, an environmental expert from the area around the reservoir. According to the expert, the main reasons for the lake’s drying up are changes in river courses in Iran and excessive water consumption.
After one of the driest years in recent decades, rivers and lakes in Iraq reached low water levels or even dried up completely. Last summer’s blistering heat led to drought, severe crop failures and a lack of drinking water.
Country hit hard by global warming
Now scarred by four decades of war, the oil-rich country is considered one of the hardest hit by the climate crisis, as well as facing a host of other environmental challenges.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
