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Iraq, Syria forced to turn to sea for drinking water

The Euphrates and the Tigris, two of biblical Paradise’s four rivers, are under attack.  The civil wars in Iraq and Syria are now victimizing the rivers themselves. The consequences of the burgeoning water crisis will be an emblem of water’s economic future, regardless of its Middle Eastern travails.  With President Bashar Assad and the Islamic […]

Amotz Asa-El writes for the Wall Street Journal:

The Euphrates and the Tigris, two of biblical Paradise’s four rivers, are under attack.  The civil wars in Iraq and Syria are now victimizing the rivers themselves. The consequences of the burgeoning water crisis will be an emblem of water’s economic future, regardless of its Middle Eastern travails.  With President Bashar Assad and the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) waging total war, Syria’s water infrastructure is fast cracking.

The Euphrates Dam, Syria’s largest, was taken over by ISIS, and the 85-kilometer-long Lake Assad to which it is attached is anarchically overpumped. The lake’s water level has plunged this year alone by six meters and is but one meter away from failing to supply 4 million people who rely on it for drinking water, according to a recent report by Chatham House.