[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 157 (Tuesday, October 27, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WATER POLITICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MIKE QUIGLEY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 27, 2009

  Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today because a water crisis 
threatens to destabilize Iraq and the entire Middle East.
  Iraqi leaders warn that disaster areas suffering from the water 
crisis, like Basra, provide a breeding ground for insurgents.
  Refugees fleeing the water crisis have deserted their homes and 
constitute the biggest movement of Iraqi refugees since the Iran war of 
the 1980s. The Iraqi military has had to intervene, and it's only a 
matter of time before the water crisis becomes a security crisis that 
imperils regional peace.
  Just how serious is this water crisis?
  The Euphrates River, which once supported empires in the cradle of 
civilization, is now barely fit for human use. In some areas it's ``A 
slick black ooze, fit only for scores of bathing water buffalo.'' In 
other areas, salinity levels have risen so high that towns have been 
evacuated, their citizens unable to drink the fetid water.
  In Basra, for example, low water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates 
have brought salt water rushing in the from the Persian Gulf. Rising 
salinity levels threaten the viability of local agriculture so much 
that Amer Suleiman, Basra's agriculture director, will soon declare 
Basra a ``disaster area'' and warns that ``if things continue to 
deteriorate there is no hope for Basra to recover.''
  What can be done about Iraq's water crisis? What can be done to 
replenish the Tigris and Euphrates?
  The first solution is to reform Iraq's careless water management 
system.
  Nibras al Mamouri, a professor of water resources at Baghdad's 
College of Agriculture, says ``poor irrigation techniques and a lack of 
incentives to stop wasting so much water'' are partly to blame for the 
current shortage.
  The second solution, an international solution, reminds us that a 
water crisis in Iraq has consequences for the entire Middle East.
  The Iraqi government, rightly or wrongly, has blamed the water crisis 
on its neighbors, principally Turkey and Syria but also Iran.
  To resolve the water crisis, Iraq must negotiate a more equitable 
water sharing agreement--
  (1) With Turkey, which controls the headwaters of both rivers--
  (2) With Syria, through which the rivers pass--
  (3) And with Iran, which controls two other rivers--the Karun and the 
Karkheh--that feed into the Faw Peninsula and Basra.
  Turkey, Syria, and Iraq, responding to the water crisis, met earlier 
this month in Ankara to discuss a solution. But little has been 
achieved so far--neither Turkey nor Syria has been particularly 
sympathetic to Iraq, especially since each faces its own water 
shortage.
  The difficulty of reaching an agreement underscores the unique 
diplomatic challenge posed by water politics. River water cannot belong 
to only one country because it flows between many countries. This is 
complicated by the fact that water flows in only one direction, and 
that upstream countries affect water levels downstream, but not vice 
versa.
  Turkey, for example, which controls the headwaters of both the Tigris 
and the Euphrates, can control water flows to downstream countries, 
such as Syria and Iraq. Syria and Iraq begin any water negotiation with 
Turkey at an a priori disadvantage. But without greater Turkish 
cooperation, water shortages could spell disaster for Syrian and Iraqi 
agriculture, and spillover effects could destabilize the region.
  The planned Ilisu dam, to be built on the Turkish part of the Tigris, 
is especially controversial in Iraq, which has already accused Turkey 
of choking the Euphrates with hydroelectric dams.
  Some Iraqi leaders even suggest that water is being used as a weapon 
against Iraq and threaten war.
  Tayseer al Mashadani, an Iraqi member of parliament, warns that 
``Iraq's water crisis . . . could lead us into war with one of our 
neighbors. The new war on Iraq is a war of water.'' But, before we 
accept the inevitability of war, we should reflect on words from the 
late Senator Simon: ``Water,'' he said ``can be a catalyst for war and 
can also create peace between nations.''
  In the Middle East we have an extraordinary opportunity to make 
cooperative water sharing serve the cause of peace.
  Our voice carries a lot of weight in the region, and we should use 
that weight to support a water sharing agreement between Iraq, Turkey, 
Iran, and Syria.
  The consequences of failure are too great.

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