The impact of upstream dams built on Tigris and Euphrates on waterflow and land desertification

On Tuesday, November 15, 2022, Dr. Ako Rashed Hama, the chairperson of the department of Civil Engineering department presented a seminar on the impact of upstream dams built on Tigris and Euphrates on waterflow and land desertification. During the seminar, Dr. Ako presented an analysis of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers’ mean annual flow rate records in correlation with upstream dams filling and operation of tens of large dams and reservoirs in Turkey and Iran during the last 40-50 years. The seminar ended with questions and discussion from the attendees.

For thousands of years Mesopotamia (the land between rivers), today’s Iraq faces water scarcity and desertification due to the continued reduction of the Tigris and Euphrates water flow into Iraqi territory. This is largely due to upstream developments on their headwaters in Turkey and Iran, with the effects of climate change.