6,000 Iraqi wells to be drilled to reduce impacts of drought

Iraq will drill 6,000 wells in order to cope with the drought in the country, The New Arab’s Arabic-language service Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

The wells will be drilled to reduce the impacts of the drought on various regions across the country, the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources announced, as they also highlighted their concerns surrounding the impact of the wells on groundwater.

The measure is the first of its kind as droughts across Iraqi provinces have exacerbated after being hit by climate change and moves by Iran and Turkey that have reduced the flow of water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into the country.

“More than 500 wells have already been dug recently in areas experiencing drought,” the Director General of the General Authority for Groundwater in the Ministry of Water Resources, Bassem Khalaf Masoud told the official Al-Iraqiya news channel.

“Groundwater must be treated with caution, water should not be used unjustly, and not all groundwater can be used,” Masoud warned.

The ministry has a strict mechanism for granting approvals to drill wells, taking into account their locations, specifications, depths, distributions and water qualities.

They have also filled dozens of wells that violated its instructions and were dug without approval.

Iraq is among the most at-risk nations from climate change, with the World Bank in November saying the country's water resources would decrease by 20 percent by 2050.

Iraq’s water ministry also issued a warning last year stating that the Tigris and Euphrates rivers could dry up by 2040 due to the crisis.