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Euphrates River: Iraq War
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Preventing insurgents from transporting IEDs on the Euphrates River is not the only significant aspect of this situation. Also important is the fact that the Iraqi Army identified the need to patrol the river--positive proof of the advancement of the leadership of the Iraqi Army.
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The operations along the stretch of the Euphrates River from Qaim to Baghdad will not abate any time soon. Major General Rick Lynch has stated, "We're going to fight our way to the [October 15] referendum, and we're going to fight our way to the [December 15] election." allow the Iraqi government to re-establish control over their border with Syria.â€
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Before Turkey began building large dams on the Euphrates, the river's average annual flow at the Turkish-Syrian border was about 30 x 109 m³. To this, a further 1.8 x 109 m³ is added in Syria from the Khabour River, a major tributary. On several occasions in recent years, low water levels in the Lake Assad reservoir, behind the Tabqa dam, have restricted the hydro-power output (with installed capacity of 800 MW) and irrigation development. In the longer term, a reduction in Euphrates water entering the country could be a major constraint on Syrian power generation and agriculture. Iraq used to receive 33 x 109 m³ of river water per year at Hit, 200 km downstream from the Syrian border before the 1970s, when both Turkey and Syria built a series of large dams on the Euphrates River. By the end of the 1980s, the discharge decreased to as little as 8 x 109 m³ per year at Hit.
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Along with the Euphrates river, the Tigris has been heavily dammed by the Iraqis and the Ottomans. Out of the current operational dams, the Mosul Dam is used for hydropower production, irrigation, and flood control, and the Samara Dam and the al-Kut Barrage regulate the river with limited irrigation responsibilities. The Bekhme Dam on the Greater Zap, the Dokan Dam and the Dibbis Dam on the Lesser Zap, the Darbandikhan Dam and the Hamrin Dam on the Diyala are the remaining operational dams on the Tigris river. Supposedly, there are four more dams are either being planned or constructed for future use.[27] Also, the Main Outfall Drain, 500 km in length, with an average depth of 4 meters and a width of 180 meters, is intended to remove excess drainage water from the area between the twin rivers south of Baghdad and to discharge it to the Gulf near the Fao Peninsula after transferring it by siphon across the Euphrates river near Nasiriyah.[28] Some reports indicate that this canal has already completed and ready for use. Increasing use of the Euphrates river by Turkey and Syria presents a great challenge for the Iraqi government, and they may have to divert more water from the Tigris river in order to utilize the basin to their needs. Status of Conflict in the Basin: Between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, there have been no war or an armed conflict relating to the water issues.
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The total flow of the Euphrates is not as great as that of the Tigris, although the river regimes are similar. It, too, rises in the highlands of Turkey and is fed by melting snows, to an even greater extent than the Tigris, but it lacks the major tributaries which the Tigris has. In Iraq, the period of maximum flow on the Euphrates is shorter and later than that of the Tigris and is usually confined to the months of April and May. Discharge during the two months accounts for 42% of the annual total. Minimum flows occur from August through October and contribute only 8.5% of the total discharge. The mean annual runoff of the Euphrates is 35.2 x 109 m³ at its confluence with the Tigris (Shahin 1989; Beaumont et al. 1988).
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Iraq is drained by the Tigris-Euphrates river system, although less than half of the Tigris-Euphrates basin lies in the country. Both rivers rise in the Armenian highlands of Turkey, where they are fed by melting winter snow.
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