ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Iraq’s water resources ministry said on Wednesday that despite the recent rains across the country, the risk of drought remains, with reservoirs well below full capacity. 

“The current reservoirs, despite the improvement in their levels, are still low compared to their full capacity,” Ghazwan al-Sahlani, a water resources ministry official, told the state-owned al-Sabah newspaper. 

According to Sahlani, recent rains across the country have contributed to improving the level of water in dams by about one billion cubic meters. 

Water shortages have also been exacerbated by upstream restrictions imposed by neighboring Iran and Turkey. Sahlani said it is “important to monitor water flows coming from neighboring countries and the management of strategic reserves.” 

The ministry is planning to address the coming waves of drought by “drilling new wells to support farmers and protect strategic crops,” he noted.  

Iraq was hit by rainfall and flash floods earlier in December, with large parts of the country seeing rainfall in excess of 120 millimeters in some areas. 

But the country is still facing one of its worst droughts on record, with climate change driving water shortages, desertification, and displacement. 

The United Nations has ranked Iraq among the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, while authorities have warned that water reserves have fallen to dangerous levels, making conservation and careful management essential.

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.