ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The water situation in Iraq is “worrying”, the spokesperson for the water ministry told The New Region on Friday, calling on citizens to conserve water and treat it as a scarce resource.

“The water situation in Iraq is difficult and complex. Rising temperatures and low water releases have contributed to the decline in revenues,” said ministry spokesperson Khaled Shamal.

“The situation is worrying, but the government has taken positive and effective measures, both internally and externally,” he noted.

Iraqi parliamentary speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani on Tuesday announced that Turkey has agreed to release an additional 420 cubic meters of water per second to Iraq from the upstream portions of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Iraqi MP Karwan Yarwais said in a statement that the 420 figure is combined, with 320 cubic meters coming from the Tigris River and 100 from the Euphrates

Shamal also called for conserving water usage, explaining that government institutions are working extensively on water conservation efforts.

“We need to raise both societal and institutional awareness about dealing with water as a scarce resource that is not always readily available,” said the spokesperson.

Water scarcity has been a long-standing and critical issue for Iraq, exacerbated by upstream dams constructed by Turkey along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These dams have significantly reduced water flow into Iraq, intensifying the country’s existing water shortages.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, a former water resources minister, has repeatedly highlighted combating water scarcity as one of the main priorities on his agenda as president of Iraq.

Speaking to The New Region in May, Iraqi MP Hassan Wariush al-Asadi said Iraq’s current water storage has dropped to about 9 billion cubic meters, down sharply from 26 billion cubic meters at the same time last year.