BAGHDAD, Jun 28, 2009 (AFP) - Turkey has increased by more than 50 percent the flow of the Euphrates river to Iraq, the Iraqi water resources ministry said on Sunday, in a timely boost for agriculture.
"Turkey increased the flow of the Euphrates today to 570 cubic metres (20,000 cubic feet) a second (m3/s) and we hope that our Turkish neighbours continue to increase water levels to guarantee irrigation for our agriculture," the ministry said.
At the start of the month, the ministry said 500 m3/s was the minimum flow needed to cover half of Iraq's irrigation requirements.
On June 18, Turkey pledged to double the flow of water into the Euphrates over the summer by opening dam floodgates, according to Tareq al-Hashemi, one of Iraq's vice presidents.
He said at the time that Ankara had promised to increase water flow to Iraq from 360 m3/s to 515, and would ramp that figure up to 715 m3/s during July, August and September.
In recent months, Iraq has repeatedly asked Turkey to increase the flow in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, as a chronic shortage of water for irrigation threatens this year's harvest.
Baghdad says Turkey's construction of a series of dams on the rivers' higher reaches has sharply reduced the flow and compounded the problems caused by a nearly decade-long drought.
The flow of the Euphrates, which runs through Syria before reaching Iraq, is now running at just over half its 2000 level of 950 m3/second.
The controversy over the sharing of the mighty rivers at the root of Iraq's ancient name of Mesopotamia -- meaning "between the rivers" in Greek -- is almost as old as the country itself.
But the current dispute comes at an especially sensitive time when war-devastated Iraq is keen to rekindle diplomatic relations with its more powerful neighbours.
BAGDAD, junio 28, 2009 (AFP) - Turquía ha aumentado en más del 50 por ciento el caudal del río Éufrates en el Iraq, los iraquíes los recursos hídricos del ministerio dijo el domingo, en el momento de impulsar la agricultura.
"Turquía aumentaron el caudal del Éufrates hoy a 570 metros cúbicos (20.000 pies cúbicos) un segundo (m3 / s) y esperamos que nuestros vecinos turcos siguen aumentando los niveles de agua para garantizar el riego de nuestra agricultura", dijo el ministerio.
Al comienzo del mes, el ministerio dice 500 m3 / s es el caudal mínimo necesario para cubrir la mitad de las necesidades de riego del Iraq.
El 18 de junio, Turquía se comprometió a duplicar el flujo de agua en el Éufrates durante el verano mediante la apertura de puertas presa, de acuerdo a Tareq al-Hashemi, uno de los vicepresidentes de Irak.
Dijo que en el momento en que Ankara ha prometido aumentar el flujo de agua a Irak de 360 m3 / s a 515, y rampa de esa cifra hasta 715 m3 / s durante el mes de julio, agosto y septiembre.
En los últimos meses, el Iraq ha pedido repetidamente a Turquía a aumentar el flujo de los ríos Tigris y Éufrates, como una escasez crónica de agua para el riego amenaza la cosecha de este año.
Bagdad dice que Turquía la construcción de una serie de represas en los ríos "mayor alcance ha reducido el flujo y agrava los probl
http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidANA20090628T132235ZLYM66
Dom Jun 28, 2009 6:12 pm