Iraq’s famous Tigris is heavily polluted and in danger of drying up. One of Africa’s largest rivers, the Zambezi, has almost dried up. The Ganges River is experiencing its worst drought in 1,300 years. According to the UN, southern African countries are experiencing their worst drought in 100 years. Last year, Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba declared a state of emergency due to the drought. Similar measures were previously adopted by authorities in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi.
Iraq’s famous Tigris River is heavily polluted and in danger of drying up. Unless urgent measures are taken to save the river, the lives of the ancient communities living along its banks will be radically changed.
The Tigris is one of two famous rivers flowing through Mesopotamia, once part of the Fertile Crescent. It originates in southeastern Turkey and flows through Iraq, passing through its two largest cities, Mosul and Baghdad, before joining the Euphrates. Together, they end their journey south to the Persian Gulf.
On the banks of these rivers, world history was changed. Large-scale agriculture was first developed, the first words were written, and the wheel was invented. Today, the Tigris’ waters are used for irrigation, transportation, industry, power generation, and drinking water for the approximately 18 million Iraqis living in its basin.
But the river’s condition had been deteriorating for decades. Iraq had state-of-the-art water infrastructure until the US targeted it in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. The destruction of wastewater treatment plants allowed wastewater to spill into the waterways. Due to years of sanctions and conflict, the infrastructure has never been fully restored. Today, only 30% of urban households in southern and central Iraq are connected to wastewater treatment plants. In rural areas, this figure has dropped to 1.7%.
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In addition to household waste, chemical fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural runoff, industrial waste, including from the oil sector, and medical waste all enter the river. A 2022 study found that water quality at many sites in Baghdad was rated as “poor” or “very poor.” In 2018, at least 118,000 people in the southern city of Basra were hospitalized after drinking contaminated water.
The river’s volume has also significantly decreased. Over the past 30 years, Turkey has built large dams on the Tigris, and the amount of water flowing to Baghdad has decreased by 33%. Iran has also built dams and diverted water from the shared rivers that feed the Tigris. Water is often overused in Iraq, particularly in the agricultural sector, which uses at least 85% of the country’s surface water.
The climate crisis is making its presence felt. Iraq’s rainfall has dropped by 30%, and it is experiencing its worst drought in nearly a century. Demand for fresh water is expected to exceed supply by 2035. This summer, the Tigris River was so low that people could easily cross it on foot.
The Iraqi government has repeatedly had to pressure its northern neighbor to release more water from its dams. Water losses in Iraq are one of the issues frequently raised by Turkish officials during these discussions.
According to The Guardian, in November, Baghdad and Ankara signed an agreement on a mechanism to address some of the river’s problems: stopping pollution, introducing modern irrigation technologies, reclaiming agricultural land, and improving water management. However, the agreement has drawn sharp criticism from experts, environmental activists, and the public, who are concerned about the lack of details, as well as the fact that it appears to transfer control over Iraq’s water resources to Ankara and is not officially binding.
One of Africa’s largest rivers, the Zambezi, has nearly dried up, with water levels in Namibia dropping to their lowest in five years. Over the past year, water levels have dropped to 15 cm, compared to 1.25 m in 2019. Last year, the level was 90 cm, TASS reports, citing the Namibian newspaper, citing information from the national water company, Namibia Water Corporation (NamWater).
Further river drainage could lead to infrastructure damage and economic losses for the company. However, NamWater specialists are hopeful that rainfall will increase the Zambezi’s water supply, as the company’s infrastructure ensures an uninterrupted supply of clean drinking water to homes, offices, and businesses. The prolonged drought is affecting crops and has reduced power generation at hydroelectric power plants in the countries along the Zambezi. Specialists noted that the typical peak water level in the Zambezi is 5 meters.
Africa. The Zambezi River is the center of Zambia’s fishing. royal-safari.com
According to the UN, southern African countries are experiencing their worst drought in 100 years. Last year, Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba declared a state of emergency due to the drought. Similar measures were previously adopted by authorities in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. Experts believe the drought is a consequence of the El Niño climate phenomenon. Water levels in the lower Zambezi River, where the large Kariba and Cabora Bassa hydroelectric dams are located, have dropped to a minimum level that allows for continued power generation for Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
The Ganga River is experiencing its most severe drying up in 1,300 years, according to researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IIT Gandhinagar) and the University of Arizona, who published their study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
To assess the river’s flow dynamics over centuries, scientists reconstructed the Ganges’s water regime from the 7th century CE to 2012. To do this, they used tree-ring analysis from the Monsoon Asia Drought Atlas dataset and combined the results with modern hydrological observations using computer modeling.
According to the results, the decline in water flow between 1991 and 2020 was 76% greater than the worst drought of the 16th century. Moreover, droughts have become more frequent and last longer. According to the researchers, this is not a temporary anomaly, but a long-term change in the hydrological regime.
Photo: NIA “Ecology”
Experts believe anthropogenic factors are the main cause of the current changes. Rising Indian Ocean surface temperatures associated with climate change, as well as aerosol pollution from industry, transport, and power plants, significantly impact monsoon precipitation. Scientists note that such pollution can suppress rainfall. Their study emphasizes that “the recent drying is outside the range of climate variability of the last millennium, and most global models are unable to capture it.”
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The Ganga River remains a source of drinking water, agricultural irrigation, industrial water supply, and ecosystem functions. Therefore, researchers propose two response strategies. The first is improving climate models to more accurately account for the interactions between air pollution, climate change, and monsoon rains. The second is implementing adaptive water management strategies to mitigate the impact of potential water shortages.
The observed changes indicate a new stage of environmental stress for the Ganges river system and adjacent areas. Accelerated drying and longer dry periods pose challenges to sustainable water use, especially in densely populated areas dependent on the river.
RIA Novosti calculated that the water reserves in the reservoirs supplying Turkey’s most populous city, Istanbul, may only last 57 days if the drought continues. The Istanbul Water and Sewerage Authority (İSKİ) reported that the reservoirs supplying the city are 21% full (182.9 million cubic meters out of 868 million). This is the worst level in the past 10 years, with the exception of 2023.
RUMB.RU — Istanbul
The city, with a population of over 16 million, consumes approximately 3.2 million cubic meters of water daily, the administration claims, urging citizens to conserve water. At this rate, the agency calculates that water reserves will last for another 57 days, barring precipitation.
In October, the General Directorate of Meteorology (MGM) reported that the summer of 2025 was the driest in 65 years in Istanbul, Izmir, and 16 other provinces. Since April, the water reserves in Istanbul’s reservoirs have steadily declined from 80%. Of the 10 reservoirs supplying the city, only one is currently more than 25% full, and two of those are less than 5%.
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