Shatt Al-Arab River and the seawater intrusion: causes and solutions

Authors

Havan H. Salman, Ministry of water resources/IraqFollow
Hamdiea Skheel Jazaa, Ministry of water resources/Iraq

Abstract

. The scarcity and pollution of water resources led to environmental deterioration in Iraq, where the water needs for agricultural purposes are estimated at about 51 billion m3 annually to irrigate 11.3 million dunums and about 10 billion m3 annually for social health needs and 5 billion m3 annually for industrial, oil needs and electricity production. This paper addresses another factor exacerbating the crisis and posing another challenge to competition, which is pollution from seawater intrusion. Take the Shatt al-Arab as a case study. Shatt al-Arab is the main water source for the city of Basra in southern Iraq, where the Tigris River contributes (35%), the Euphrates River (24%), in addition to the sub-basins of the Karkheh River by (8%) and the Karun River by (33%) in its composition. The water supply in Shatt Al-Arab has significantly decreased and losing over 50% of its water supply Due to the water control by the riparian countries is conducted either through rivers diversions (Iran model) or by building massive dams (Turkey model). This has caused severe deterioration in the water quality and quantity of Shatt al-Arab River, and has also allowed seawater to intrusion, which is known to harm the ecosystem and threaten the city and the region with an environmental disaster. Field data related to the salt’s concentration at the population centers on Shatt al-Arab’s path were collected as a measure of the salinity impact of the Gulf waters on it, and then solutions were proposed to get mitigate of this effect. This present paper will provide an environmental assessment based on real data analysis and propose practical solutions to mitigate the risk of water pollution.

Recommended Citation

Salman, Havan H. and Jazaa, Hamdiea Skheel (2023) "Shatt Al-Arab River and the seawater intrusion: causes and solutions," Al-Bahir Journal for Engineering and Pure Sciences: Vol. 2: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.55810/2313-0083.1018

References

1. Abdullah DA, Masih I, Van der Zaag P, Karim UFA, Popescu I, Al Suhail Q. Int J River Basin Manag 2015;13:215e27. https://doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2015.1028268
2. Al-Zubedi Ahmed Srdah. Groundwater in Iraq. 2022. ISBN- 978-9922-9746-6-8.
3. Orkhonselenge Alexander, Harbor Jonathan M. Impacts of modern glacier changes on surface water resources in western and northern Mongolia. J Water Resour Protect 2018;10. https://doi.org/10.4236/jwarp.2018.101007
4. Khalil Al-Mahmoud, Hassan. Iraqi J Sci 2009;50(3).
5. Directorate of Water Resources, Basra. Division of Information Systems, unpublished data. 2001. 2009.
6. Hameed HA, Ali MH, Aljorany YS, Hassan WF, Al-Hello AAZN. Iraq. Ann. Limnol. - Int. J. Lim. 2013;49:199e206. https://doi.org/10.1051/limn/2013062
7. Abdulameer Mariam H, Al-mallah Inass A. Evaluation of groundwater quality and the hydro geochemical processes of shallow Dibdibba aquifer in Basra Governorate, southern Iraq. Journal of Basrah Researches ((Sciences)) 2018;44(1).
8. Afkhami Michelle E, Rudgers Jennifer A, Stachowicz John J. Multiple mutualist effects: conflict and synergy in multispecies mutualisms. Ecology 2014;95(4). https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1096.1
9. Sadeghian Mohammad Sadegh, Salarijazi Meysam, Ahmadianfar Iman, Heydari Mohammad. Stage-discharge relationship in tidal rivers for tidal flood condition. Fresenius Environ Bull 2016;25(10/2016):4111e7.
10. Zaman Mohammad, Shahid Shabbir A, Lee Heng. Irrigation water quality. Mitigation and adaptation using nuclear and related techniques pp. 113e131. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96190-3, ISBN 978-3-319-96189-7 ISBN 978-3-319-96190-3 (eBook).
11. Hussain Muhammad H. Shatt al-Arab, a study in geography Historical, (Journal of Basra studies eleventh year/issue (22). Republic of Iraq/Ministry of water resources/center of studies and engineering designs. 2016 [Technical Report, Volume II].
12. Republic of Iraq/Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR). Center of studies and engineering designsviii. Technical Report; 2014.
13. Al-Taie Samer Adnan, Abdullah Sadiq Salem, Lafta Ali Abdel Reda. Patterns of longitudinal transition of salinity in the Shatt al-Arab estuary and their causes. JKAU: Mar Sci 2014;25(2):205e21.
14. Sklar FH, Browder JA. Environ Manag 1998;22:547e62.
15. Al-Hassen Shukri I. Environmental pollution in Basra city, Iraq. A thesis submitted to Ph.D. Degree in geography requirements. University of Basra; 2011.
16. UN Iraq. Water in Iraq fact sheet. 2013.
17. Zakzok, Schmandt Jürgen, Alam Paying, Oueidat Haytham. The Middle East studies center at the Ohio State University; 2016.