ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – A recent agreement between Iraq and Turkey on regulating shared water resources is set to enter implementation in the coming days, an advisor to the Iraqi prime minister said on Wednesday, as Baghdad faces one of the worst droughts in recent decades. 

In early November, Ankara and Baghdad signed a new memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at easing Iraq’s water crisis by focusing on desalination projects, water treatment, and the construction of dams to manage cross-border flows.

Torhan al-Mufti, the Iraqi prime minister's advisor for regional water affairs, said in a statement that implementation will begin once procedural steps are finalized in the coming days and that Turkey has already increased Iraq’s share of water from both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

“Iraq will present its actual water needs in the fields of agriculture, industry, and other sectors to Turkey, and with the activation of the agreement, Iraq's water share will be regularly delivered by Turkey,” Mufti said.

The deal comes as Iraq’s water levels plummet, which officials partly attribute to Turkey’s expanding dam network. Environmental groups warn that reduced inflows and climate impacts have pushed Iraq’s water reserves to dangerous levels.

The Green Iraq Observatory warned in September that Turkey’s dam network has drastically reduced Iraq’s water inflows, intensifying an already severe crisis. Turkey has built about 20 dams over four decades, holding roughly 80 billion cubic meters of water, eight times the capacity of Iraq’s Mosul Dam.

The report was followed less than a month later by a statement from the Iraqi agricultural ministry, saying that the country’s water reserves have dropped to dangerous levels. The ministry warned that rationing had become essential to protect water security.

Iraq is facing one of the worst droughts since its establishment, according to officials. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in 2024 that climate change has displaced more than 170,000 people in 12 provinces, due to drought, falling water levels, and expanding desertification.