The Impact of Dams on Tourism in the Marshes

Zaid Hakim Jiyad
Under the supervision of Lect. Dr. Ali Khazal Jawad

Since the marshes are located at the end of the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds, water storage and control projects are the main projects that affect the wetlands. The Hindiya Dam was opened on the Euphrates River in 1913, where this construction controlled the distribution of downstream water. It also controlled the water and its distribution between agricultural fields that are not part of the marshes. This greatly affected the amount of water flowing into the Hammar Marsh. As for the other marshes, the Kut Dam was built in 1938, which directed more water flow to provide irrigation for agriculture, thus reducing the amount of water flowing from the Tigris River to the Central and Hawizeh Marshes. Since the 1950s, Iraq began building a number of water control infrastructure projects, including the Samarra Dam (on the Tigris River) and the Ramadi Dam (on the Euphrates River), which diverted excess water towards natural depressions. The Haditha Dam on the Euphrates and the Mosul Dam on the Tigris were completed in the 1980s. Similarly, Turkey and Syria began dam construction projects in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1990, the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) in Turkey came into operation, significantly affecting the flow of the Euphrates. At the same time, Iran implemented projects that significantly reduced the flow of the Tigris tributaries. This happened mainly in the 1950s in Iraq, and in the 1980s and 1990s in Iraq, Turkey and Iran. Most recently, in 2016, the controversial Ilisu Dam came into operation. However, the impacts of the construction of the massive Ataturk Dam on the Euphrates in 1990, which was added to other large dams on the Euphrates in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, have forced the Iraqi government to make a radical change in the operational scheme of the Tigris, also because the two watersheds are jointly managed. As a result, the hydrological records of the upstream marshlands of the major rivers show a marked difference in flow regime before and after 1990. Map 3 shows the most important hydraulic structures in the catchment in relation to wetlands.

The post-1990 flow rate across the Euphrates estuary in Hindiyah is about half of what it was in the past; in the Tigris, downstream of Kut Dam, flows have decreased to about a third of their pre-1990 discharge. In addition, peak flows, which were used to feed the marshes during heavy runoff, have decreased to about 25%-30% of their pre-1990 flow. The hydraulic structures have not only reduced the overall water supply but also caused seasonal changes.