User:Aiapicco/Water conflict

Transboundary water conflicts and their effects on the Environment

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Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Since the 1960s, there has been conflict revolving around water in Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Turkey, throughout the years, has continuously decided not to follow the 1987 agreement that ensured roughly 500 cubic meters per second of water is streamed down the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to supply water for the Mesopotamian Marshes and millions of individuals. Turkey deiced to start the Southeastern Anatolia Project or GAP which is to build 20 dams that could hold up to 120 billion cubic meters along with nineteen hydroelectric electricity generators leaving millions of people and wildlife living downstream that rely on both the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with nothing.

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Turkey and the GAP Project.

The Tigris and Euphrates River GAP project, which consists of (1.7 million hectares) has exasperated the situation and has created irreversible and future irreversible environmental damage not only to the surrounding countries but to Turkey as well.  The GAP project decreased water by 50% from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the surrounding downstream countries, Syria and Iraq. The lack of downstream water has led to many Kurds becoming homeless, increasing water salinity in the Euphrates reaching 1000 PPM and preventing Iraq from returning to rich organic soil used for agriculture. In addition, the lack of downstream water will also prevent natural drainage, including salts and pollution that the rivers naturally got rid of, affecting the health of millions.

Annual time lapse of water levels of the Mesopotamian Marshes throughout early February.

Effects on the Mesopotamian Marshes

The Mesopotamian Marshes, also known as the Iraqi Marshes, saw a considerable decrease during the 1980-1988 war with Iran when Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq, accused Arab inhabitants of treachery and therefore used water as a weapon to push them out of the Marshes. To get thousands of people out of the area, the Iraq government drained 10% which, used to cover 9,000 square kilometers (3,500 square miles) to 760 sq. km, and in 2005 only gained 40 percent of their original coverage. The Third River is a 172 kilometres long project that started in 1992. It involved an additional channel in capturing the downflow water from the Tigris River and moving it across the mashes and the Euphrates River near Al-Qurna. The project forced half a million marshland people to migrate, burnt down the surrounding towns, and polluted the surrounding farmland and water, making the land inhabitable for thousands of species and human life.

Mosul and Haditha Reservoirs

Water levels at a reservoir upstream of Mosul Dam.

The conflict in Tigris and Euphrates Rivers has resulted in reservoirs decreasing rapidly. In 1985 and 1986, the two biggest reservoirs, Mosul and Haditha, situated in the Tigris and Euphrates, were built to provide hydropower and downstream flow. During the first Gulf War, in 1990 and 1991, 3.3km2 of surface area was lost per day in the Mosul reservoir falling from 372 to 346km. On January 25^th and February 10^th, 1991, the reservoir continued to lose about 3.4 km2 per day of the lake surface, leading to a final surface area of 215 km2 and a volume of 3.3 km3. This was the same time in February 1991 when multiple British bombers sent multiple missiles hitting bridges in southern and western Iraq, killing more than 100 in each attack and affecting water levels.  During the same time, between January 17 and February 10^th, 1991, the Haditha reservoir, also situated in Iraq, lost an average of 2.5 km2 of lake surface per day and in three weeks lost a total of 21%. In August of 2014, ISIS, a rebel group, captured the Mosul Dam, which Kurdish sources feared would be used to float downstream countries, causing thousands of deaths. The US sent over 130 air strikes to help recapture the dam from ISIS in northern Iraq. The US sent airstrikes hitting the areas surrounding the Haditha reservoir to stop ISIS from capturing another vital dam that is a source for millions. The conflict over the resource in the area caused both the Mosul and Haditha reservoirs to lose surface area at a rate of 2.0km2 a day.