Erbil`s water shortage crisis: Iraqi Kurdistan`s capital city grapples with drought and climate change ahead of a scorching summer
As Erbil braces for another scorching summer, the city’s water supply is running low, leaving residents desperate for solutions amid a worsening drought
April skies over Erbil are often dark, dusty, and unsettled. Worried faces look to the heavens for rain, knowing that in a few weeks the relentless sun will turn the city into a concrete oven. But the few passing showers are not enough to replenish underground water or nourish the rivers.
An unusually dry winter this year suggests that it could be a desperate summer in the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, where temperatures often approach 50 degrees C.
The rapidly growing city has regularly experienced water shortages during the summer months, but years of drought and overuse of groundwater resources could mean long supply disruptions for an already exasperated population.
Kanabi Mohammed Ahmed, 73, rests in the shade of a truck in the Zhyan neighbourhood on the southern outskirts of the city.
Nearby, two municipal wells sit silent on the edge of a scrubby patch of ground. They did not pump water the day before or that morning. If they do not provide water to his home across the street by the following day, Ahmed will have to buy water from a tanker truck.
“This is not just the case with me, but with everyone,” said Ahmed, gesturing to his neighbours’ houses. “We should not worry about water. It is the government’s responsibility to provide it for us.”
The city of Erbil relies entirely on two main sources of water for its population of around one million people: the Great Zab River and wells. Unlike the Kurdistan Region’s other major cities, there is no major reservoir nearby to draw on. As a result, there is little margin to soften the impact of a dry winter.
Iraq is one of the most vulnerable countries on earth in terms of climate change. This winter’s disappointing totals compound several years of drought. The 2023-24 winter was better than the previous four years, but that relief appears to have been short-lived.
Last year, 485mm of precipitation had fallen on Erbil governorate by April 9, but it only received 112mm this year. Neighbouring Duhok governorate has fared even worse, with only 17% of last year’s totals falling by that point. Areas to the south and east have done better in real terms, but are still only getting half as much precipitation as last year.
“The city is facing a water crisis this summer,” Farman Rashad, a researcher with the STOP Organisation for Monitoring and Development, told The New Arab.
He predicted that 60% of neighbourhoods that primarily depend on wells and groundwater will be hit hardest. They tend to be located in more recently constructed neighbourhoods in the city’s outer rings.
Before 2000, wells in Erbil only needed to be around 100 meters deep to provide sufficient water, according to a report published by STOP. As the city expanded after the fall of the Ba’ath regime, the wells had to be drilled deeper to chase the dropping water level.
By 2022, the normal depth of wells had dropped to 450 meters, but in some places, an astonishing depth of 700 metres is needed.
“Decreasing the water [table] has affected the amount of water that can come from each well,” said Rashad, who lives in the city’s Roshanbiry neighbourhood.
“Even the quality of water, I have noticed that it is poor if you compare it to the other neighbourhoods or to five years ago. Now, the quality of water is even worse.”
In Zhyan, the two wells near Ahmed’s house are 370 metres and 400 metres deep, respectively. He said that they have not dried up yet, like dozens of others around the city already have, but that the flow is not good.
When the wells cannot provide, residents must buy water from tanker trucks. A delivery of 1,500 litres will cost about 25,000 Iraqi dinars ($16.67 at current market rates), though this can increase during periods of high demand in the summer.
Depending on family size and consumption rates, this water might only last for a few days. Then it is time to call one of the tanker truck operators, whose phone numbers are graffitied on the walls around water-stressed neighbourhoods. During busy times when everyone is calling them, it can be hard to find a truck that will come.
The cost of relying on water from tankers adds up, particularly in the economically distressed Kurdistan Region. For years, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq’s federal government have fiercely disagreed over the budget.
As a result, government workers often have to wait weeks for their paychecks. Jobs in the small private sector can be hard to come by. Pensioners on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable to water shortages from a financial and medical point of view.
Local residents complain frequently about the problem to the government and officials from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which is the most powerful in the area, but usually leave these meetings disappointed. Sometimes they hold protests, but they are short-lived since participants risk arrest in the tightly policed city.
With elections expected in November, opposition parties are likely to use the water issue as a political cudgel to hit the KDP and gain votes from struggling sections of the city.
Is the pipeline ready yet?
Residents are pinning their hopes on a new pipeline from the Great Zab River. KRG officials proclaim that it will solve Erbil’s water problems for the next thirty years, deftly addressing both a practical and a political problem.
On September 8, 2024, KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced the construction of the $450 million project, which also includes upgrades to water distribution infrastructure in the city.
Officials say that once completed, it will supply 20,000 cubic metres of water per hour and supply 60% of the city’s water needs.
Speaking at the Sulaimani Forum on April 16, Barzani gave an update saying that residents will see the “result in the near future,” without giving a precise timeline for completion. It is unlikely to be ready for the hottest and driest part of the summer.
During a recent visit to Erbil, The New Arab saw pieces of pipeline staged for assembly along a 120-meter road. Despite this apparent progress, the Zhyan neighbourhood still voiced concern.
“We hope it is good,” said Samir Jalal Aziz, a 40-year-old public sector worker. “I don’t know whether it will benefit this neighbourhood or not.”
He added that if it was not ready by the summer that his family “will buy water as usual.”
However, the Great Zab is not a panacea for Erbil’s water woes. Climate change, continued drought, and overuse will reduce flows.
The effect of this winter’s lack of precipitation was evident at Chama, a village located on a sweeping riverbend upstream of Ifraz. The gravel bottom was dry across much of the bed, with only the deepest parts of the river still flowing.
As spring slips away and the prospect of any soaking rains recedes until at least November, the likelihood of water shortages starts to weigh more heavily on the residents of Erbil.
“Every human deserves to have their basic needs met, but that is not the case here,” Ahmed said. “We should be able to turn on the tap and get water, just like anywhere else.”
Photo: A taxi passes a wall of graffitied phone numbers that residents use to call for a water tanker delivery in Erbil’s Zhyan neighbourhood. Source: Winthrop Rodgers.
| Themes |
| • Basic services • Climate change • Environment (Sustainable) • Local • Public programs and budgets • Regional • Water&sanitation |
