Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Waters from the Tigris (in Arabic Dijla, in Turkish Dicle) and Euphrates (in Arabic Furat, in Turkish Firat) Rivers gave rise to some of the first known agricultural civilizations. These early societies of the Mesopotamian plain arose with irrigation techniques and water infrastructure dating back to 4000 B.C.E. and earlier. The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are also well known for their high inter-annual and seasonal variability, leading to intense flooding with maximum flows as much as 10 times minimum flows. Sediment loading on the rivers is also high, resulting in raised river beds that historically have facilitated irrigation.

The “twin rivers” begin approximately 30 kilometers from each other in the highlands of eastern Turkey, travel through Syria and Iraq, and join together as the Shatt al Arab for 150 kilometers before draining into the Persian (or Arab) Gulf. The Euphrates extends a total of 2,700 kilometers (40 percent in Turkey, 35 percent in Iraq, and 25 percent in Syria); the Tigris travels 1,900 kilometers (20 percent in Turkey, 78 percent in Iraq, and 2 percent in Syria). The mean flow of the Euphrates is approximately 30 billion cubic meters per year (BCM/Y); and the Tigris conveys considerably more after contributions from tributaries in Iraq, with approximately 50 BCM/Y.

Water diversion and damming of the twin rivers for irrigation and other uses continues today with major engineering works pursued by all three riparians (Turkey, Syria, and Iraq) for agriculture, hydroelectricity generation, and to overcome flooding and the intense seasonality of the rivers. In Turkey, there are approximately 20 dams completed or planned that comprise the GAP project (Southeastern Anatolia Project, with the Atatürk dam the largest among them, filled in 1991). In Syria, several large dams are in operation, including the Tabqa dam, completed in 1975 with the aid of Soviet engineering and financing during the Cold War. In Iraq, large reservoirs include Lake Abu-Dibbis, Lake Habbaniyah, and Lake Tharthar (serving flood control and facilitating water transfers from one river to another).

Planned future use of the rivers by all three countries is estimated to outstrip available freshwater supply by 148 percent on the Euphrates and 111 percent on the Tigris. Given this, the Tigris-Euphrates basin is often cited as a potential site of future water-related conflict, with troops already having been deployed to the Syria-Iraq border in the 1970s over water use conflicts; diplomatic hostilities that have led to decades-long stalemates and the absence of a tripartite water sharing agreement (there is, however, a 1987 agreement between Turkey and Syria guaranteeing 500 cubic meters per second of Euphrates water to flow over the border, and a 1990 agreement between Syria and Iraq, but none involving all three countries); as well as regional and international concern over Turkey’s use of the river waters with continued implementation of the Southeastern Anatolia Project.

As Turkey’s GAP project involves damming and water diversions on both rivers, it threatens to reduce the quantity and quality of freshwater for downstream Syria and Iraq-figures cited are as high as a reduction of 80 percent of Euphrates flow for Iraq, and 60 percent for Syria. Within Turkey, water diverted for irrigation has led to considerable agroecological and societal changes in the Southeastern Anatolia region and poses long-term sustainability concerns, such as issues related to pollution and salinization. There are also important implications of the project for the long-standing Kurdish conflict, as Kurdish populations occupy areas around the rivers in all three countries, and as former Turkish President Ozal is said to have threatened Syria with cutting off flow of the Euphrates if it did not stop support for Kurdish insurgents.

However, there are also efforts underway to promote regional cooperation in the basin, for instance with recent efforts to establish ETIC, the Euphrates Tigris Initiative for Cooperation, involving technical experts from all three countries and led by the former president of Turkey’s GAP project, Dr. Olcay Unver.

Each of the three riparians invokes different rights claims to use of the rivers, for instance, with Turkey taking advantage of its upstream position, and also arguments related to territorial “contributions” to the rivers. Iraq similarly highlights “contributions” to make claims over Tigris waters, but also invokes historical use claims to the river waters. When examining much available data on the Tigris-Euphrates system, politics related to these different claims are often readily apparent. For instance, sources might insist on treating the rivers as a combined system, as doing so also gives Turkey a majority share in terms of contributions to the joined river system, while isolating the rivers might enhance Iraq’s claim to the Tigris (Turkey contributes 60 percent to the joint river system, while separately, Iraq contributes a majority share to the Tigris system). Others similarly argue for concepts such as “economically irrigable lands” to argue that irrigation uses are more reasonable in one country over another, or analysts invoke the suitability of transferring water from the Tigris to the Euphrates to meet demand.

In terms of other notable political issues related to use of the rivers, historically, floodwaters would dissipate into the extensive marshes of the lower Mesopotamian plain. More recently, these marshes are the site of degradation and contentious engineering transformations. Under the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, marshlands were drained to allow for agriculture and a canal was built to improve transport from the Persian Gulf to Baghdad. While the project enjoyed international support in the decades before its completion, more recently it has been contested, with some suspecting the draining of 57 percent of the marshland was a move against Shiite dissidents opposed to the Ba’athist regime. The draining of the marshes is also widely cited for having posed significant threats to the livelihoods of Marsh Arabs, as well as to migrating birds and other wildlife dependent on the marsh ecosystem. While engineering works in Iraq clearly resulted in degradation and losses of the wetland ecosystems, the changes must also be understood in the context of withdrawals occurring throughout the river system, including withdrawals in neighboring Iran.

The Iran-Iraq war, and the more recent wars in Iraq in the past two decades have also had important implications for the rivers. For instance, the burning of oilfields and loss of infrastructure for production has resulted in considerable water pollution, with ongoing disposal of “black oil” in locations that threaten to degrade Tigris River waters. This is just one example of emergent insecurities and vulnerabilities with implications for water and conflict possibilities throughout the region.

Bibliography:

Altinbilek, “Development and Management of the Euphrates-Tigris Basin,” Water Resources Development (v.20/1, 2005);
Center for Strategic and International Studies, “The Tigris and Euphrates River Basins: A New Look at Development,” Future Watch (Global Strategy Institute, June 2, 2005 );
Glanz, “Waste Oil Dumps Threaten Towns in Northern Iraq: Seepage into Tigris River is Seen as Potential Disaster for Region,” New York Times (A1, June 19, 2006);
P. Gleick, The World’s Water: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources (Island Press, 2005);
Harris, “Water and Conflict Geographies of the Southeastern Anatolia Project,” Society and Natural Resources (15, 2002);
Hillel, Rivers of Eden: The Struggle for Water and Quest for Peace in the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 1994);
F. Kolars and W.A. Mitchell, The Euphrates River and the Southeast Anatolia Development Project (Southern Illinois University Press, 1991);
Postel, Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? (W.W. Norton, 1999);
L. Postel, and A.T. Wolf, “Dehydrating Conflict,” Foreign Policy (September/October 2001);
V. Shiva, Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution and Profit (South End Press, 2002);
T. Wolf, “A Hydropolitical History of the Nile, Jordan and Euphrates River Basins,” in A. Biswas, ed., International Waters of the Middle East: From Euphrates-Tigris to Nile (Oxford University Press, 1994).