This was stated in a statement by the Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Aoun Diab, on Sunday, as reported by ‘Alsumaria News,’ which mentioned that Baghdad requested Ankara to increase water releases by one billion cubic meters. The Iraqi Minister of Water Resources said that the request included increasing water releases by 500 cubic meters per second for both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
He added: ‘An improvement in rainfall rates is expected starting from December next,’ noting that this requested increase is necessary to cover the country’s needs over the next fifty days.’
Diab continued: ‘This demand was raised during an official Iraqi delegation visit to Ankara, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein,’ noting that the meeting focused on ways to manage and organize their use to ensure achieving the common interests of the two countries.’
It is noteworthy that Iraq consumes more water from the Euphrates River than it receives, meaning there is a growing water deficit, which has reached 7%, according to the numerical analysis of the announced figures. ‘Alsumaria News’ explained that Iraq receives 18.1 million cubic meters daily, while it consumes more than 19.4 million cubic meters daily, meaning Iraq consumes 1.3 million cubic meters daily from the Euphrates without compensating for this amount.
