FACT SHEET
Ministry of Irrigation (MoIR)
(Eugene Z. Stakhiv, Senior Advisor)
[4 July, 2003]
MINISTRY of IRRIGATION
- Responsible for water resources development and management in Iraq
- Ministry (MoIR) is "bulk" water supplier for irrigation and municipal and industrial water uses. Water intake and distribution to the farms and municipalities is the responsibility of other ministries and individual farmers. The new Public Works ministry, e.g. withdraws, treats and delivers water to the individual homes and businesses.
- MoIR coordinates seasonal water requirements for agriculture, hydropower and municipal water supply with respective ministries.
- Water management infrastructure consists of 9 large storage dams and 12 major barrages (low water control structures on main rivers that help to raise the water level to better distribute water trough irrigation canals), along with thousands of kilometers of drainage canals, irrigation canals and levees and dikes.
- The Ministry maintains over 500 major pumping stations which are needed to distribute water to farms and cities that cannot be reached by gravity canals. These pumping stations are in disrepair, due to years of neglect by the Saddam regime, and are currently operating at about 40% efficiency
- Ministry currently has 18,000 employees, of which about half are in Baghdad, and the rest located in various sites and construction offices in Iraq. By years end there will be about 15,000 employees.
- Ministry headquarters in Baghdad employ 260 staff.
- The Ministry has three basic units: Headquarters, State Commissions and State Companies (State Owned Enterprises – SOE).
- The State Commissions essentially represent the operations and maintenance arm of the Ministry, ensuring that the water is stored, conveyed and allocated for the various purposes (hydropower, irrigation, water supply, marshes, flood control, etc.).
- There are 5 State Commissions, three of which are involved in water operations, management and maintenance:
- State Commission for the Euphrates R.
- State Commission for the Tigris R.
- State Commission for Dams
- In addition, there are 11 State Companies which are semi-private companies that provide a variety of engineering, construction and maintenance services for irrigation, drainage, water well drilling and equipment both for the Ministry as the main client, and compete for contracts for work required by other ministries, as needed. There is a move to privatize these companies within a year.
GENERAL
- Iraq has a population of 24 million (2002), with a population growth of 2.8%/yr. 25% of population lives in rural areas.
- 60% of population dependent on food rationing
- Two main river systems, both originating in Turkey: The Tigris and Euphrates. Both river systems heavily managed and exploited in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, sustaining a vast network of irrigated agriculture.
- A large proportion (75%) of the irrigated lands suffer from some degree of soil salinization, with consequent degradation of crop yields and fresh water system to which saline drainage flows are discharged.
- Irrigation, cultivation and drainage schemes have lead to the destruction of nearly 95%9(est.) of the original freshwater wetlands (since 1975) in the area of the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates.
- Between 1985 to 2000, wetlands have been reduced from 14,777 to 2,291 km2 .
- Total area of Iraq is 438,320 km2
AGRICULTURE/IRRIGATION
- The history of irrigation started about 7500 years ago in the area between the Tigris and Euphrates when the Sumerians built a canal to irrigate wheat and barley.
- In 1993, area under cultivation was 3.7 million ha (hectares), of which 3.46 million consisted of annual crops.
- In 1991 there were 224,500 ha of irrigated wheat, yielding 2.7 tons/ha, while rainfed wheat was estimated at 508,600 ha, with a yield of 1.7t/ha
- Percent area irrigated by groundwater is 6%; percent area irrigated by surface water is 94%.
- Total area used for agriculture and farming (grazing, livestock, etc) is 8 million ha.
- Total water use in Iraq in 1990 was 42.8 km3 (or 42.8 billion cubic meters), with 10% going to domestic and industrial uses.
- 90% of water is used for agriculture. In 1990 use was 39.4 km3
- Per capita water use is 2,400 cu.m.
- Average annual flow of Euphrates as it enters Iraq is 30 km3
- Average annual flow of Tigris as it enters Iraq is 21.2 km3. The Tigris has several large tributaries within Iraq which adds approx. 26 km3 additional flow, for a total of approx. 47 km3 during an average year.
- During drought years, as was the case between 1998-2002, water availability in the Tigris-Euphrates system drops to about 50% of average annual flow, substantially restricting irrigated agriculture, as well as rainfed agriculture.
- This periodic reduction in flows has a long term component of reduced flows due to upstream development of irrigation in both Turkey and Iran. The Iraqi section of the Euphrates, for example, receives about half of its long term "natural" flows now that Turkey has developed the upstream portion.