Regional cooperation between Iraq and Egypt on water resources management

Dr. Hamid Nima Al-Salihi/ College of Imam Al-Kazim (pbuh) Department of Political Science

There is a relative agreement in the views in the relations between the Iraqi and Egyptian sides over the years on the need for cooperation and finding points of commonality between them, the historical relations that bind the two countries, and supporting each other in crises of all kinds, resisting occupation and colonialism and advocating for their common national issues, are indications  that  indicate an organic link between the Arab peoples, and this cooperation and interdependence does not mean that the agreement was taking place all the time, because there are some gaps and difficulties that faced The two parties in their relations as a result of the difference in political views and conflict of interest between their political systems and historical aspects.

Against the backdrop of holding a tripartite summit in Amman between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq on August   25, 2020, there was talk of establishing an economic partnership agreement between the three countries, or what was known as the "New Sham Project",  which was put forward by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi to King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during thetripartite summit in Amman with the aim of finding and promoting common interests between Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, for the purpose of being the nucleus of a more expanded Arab union in The future, this project depends on three pillars, namely the oil mass in Iraq, the human mass in Egypt, and Jordan as a link between them.

In February 2020, Egypt signed with Iraq (15) agreements and memorandums of understanding in various sectors, including oil, roads, housing, electricity, construction,  trade, and others, after the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved in December  2020 the   renewal of the contract to supply the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation with a total of 12 million barrels of Basra Light crude for the year 2021.

It is worth mentioning that a memorandum of understanding was previously signed between Egypt and Iraq in the field of water resources, the formation of a joint  technical steering committee from both sides, the formation of a joint working group of Egyptian technicians, which carried out many field visits to Iraq and the preparation of a joint formulation of a clear work program that reflects areas of cooperation between the two countries, including modern irrigation techniques, reuse, treatment methods, elimination of desertification, water monitoring, communication and accounting systems, water weed control, and hydraulics of rivers and beaches, including water quality. Sedimentation, institutional and legislative reform, beach protection and treatment of polluted water.

The reality of Egypt and Iraq's handling of water problems resulting from the water policies of upstream and downstream countries indicates fundamental differences due to a number of geographical factors related to the rivers that flow into both countries, as well as the difference in the balance of power and regional factors affecting the policy of the two countries towards those countries, as the  reality of  Iraq water depends on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to meet all its water needs and The two rivers originate in Turkey and flow into the Shatt al-Arab basin in southern Iraq. As the Euphrates River crosses Syria and Iraq, the Tigris River flows from Turkey and Iran to Iraq Turkey contributes 90% to the  Euphrates River while Syria contributes 10% to the flow of water, as  for the Tigris River, Turkey,  Iran and Iraq contribute 40%, 51% and 9% respectively, as Iraq began to move from a state of water stability to a state of future water deficit, which will reach   (15,27)  billion m3, in  2025 due to the risks of Turkish-Iranian projects, which will have a significant impact on the future of agriculture in Iraq.

Iraq is associated with Turkey, Iran and Syria with a number of agreements and protocols that regulate the process of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers towards its territory, some of which date back to the beginnings of the establishment of those countries in the last century, either for Egypt, most of the agreements concluded between it and the upstream countries date back to the time of colonialism and British trusteeship over them, but the difference between the downstream countries of Iraq and Egypt is that The latter has reached an agreement in 1959 with Sudan, in which water shares were shared between the two countries on the basis of the annual discharge rate at the Egyptian Aswan and the establishment of the High Dam and the Rosairos Dam under that agreement,   which  constituted a  distinct point for the Egyptian side in managing and organizing its water policy with the downstream state,  unlike the Iraqi administration, which reached a 1989 agreement with Syria regarding the sharing of the Euphrates River water between the two countries on the basis of the Syrian agreement.  The Turkish signed in 1987, to which Iraq was not a party, and objected to it at that time, and  this agreement determined Iraq's share of the water of the Euphrates River from the point of entry of the river into Syrian territory and not from the Syrian-Iraqi border,  unlike the Egyptian agreement – Sudanese, which determined the share of the two countries from the point of entry of the Nile River Egyptian territory, and this is what deprives Iraq's right from the water that supplies the river inside the Syrian territory, and thus the amendment of this agreement and the benefit of the Egyptian-Sudanese agreement in this aspect would preserve Iraq's rights to obtain its real share of the water of the Euphrates River.

  The point of distinction that is calculated in favor of Egyptian diplomacy and water policy on Iraqi diplomacy and policy in this aspect is that Egypt has a regional weight at the level of the African continent, and African countries always try to benefit from the Egyptian weight, whether at the regional or international level, in standing by its issues , as well as its capabilities in the application of optimal and integrated management of water resources that Iraq can  benefit from in the Egyptian experience in managing this vital and strategic sector.

In light of the results of the visit of  Dr. Muhammad Abdul Ati, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, to the State of Iraq to participate in the First Baghdad International Water Conference, which   was held on March 13-14, 2021,  during which it was agreed with Mr. Engineer Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, to accelerate the activation of the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries in the field of water resources in  2020 through the formation of a joint technical steering committee  ,  In light of the results of the   first meeting of the Egyptian-Iraqi Joint Technical Steering Committee in the field of water resources and irrigation,  which was held on  June 6,  2021 to discuss opportunities to enhance joint cooperation in the fields of water management between the two brotherly countries, the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources stated that An Egyptian delegation is preparing to visit Iraq to establish a huge water station on the Euphrates River similar to the Bahr al-Baqar water station in the country, and the  ministry presented the report on the study  of the establishment of a treatment plant for the State of Iraq similar to  the Bahr al-Baqar water treatment plant for purification and desalination of water in the Euphrates River to confront the water shortage in the river in three Iraqi governorates (Alan Al-Sariyah - Diwaniyah - Basra), The Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, Mohamed Abdel Aty, said that in light of what was previously agreed upon with Engineer Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, regarding the exchange of technical visits between the two sides to benefit from the Egyptian experiences in the field of water management, Dr. Muhammad Heikal, consultant of the Bahr Al-Baqar water treatment plant, and Dr. Hussein Al-Jamal, Director of the Drainage Research Institute, visited the State of Iraq to study proposals for the treatment and reuse of water in Iraq.

Especially  since the Egyptian delegation visited many sites in the State of Iraq, where they visited the General Authority for Groundwater, the National Center for Water Resources Management, the Center for Engineering Studies and Designs, the Training and Development Center, and visited the province of Babylon to see the water resources projects in it, and  visited the challenge project  (Shatt al-Hilla rehabilitation project)  and the old and new Kish station in southern Iraq and the developed and applied irrigation systems in  the Abu Ghraib area. 

It should be noted that the Bahr al-Baqar water treatment plant is the largest treatment plant in the world and is located 10 kilometers south of the Port Said tunnels in Sinai on an area of approximately  155 acres and is part of Egypt's plan to develop the axis of the Suez Canal and the Sinai Peninsula and maximize its natural resources, as it contributes to the reclamation of  400  thousand feddans through the recycling and operation of agricultural and industrial drainage water and sewage, which will be diverted from the West Bank to the East Bank under the canal Suez and after treatment will be discharged into the Sheikh Jaber Canal, where agricultural and industrial drainage and sewage water is collected from three drains, the largest of which is the Bahr Al-Baqar drain, which is  106  km long, which flows into Lake Manzala, so this water is a source of pollution because of its negative environmental effects on human health and fisheries in Egypt.

The Egyptian government has adopted an ambitious plan to build dozens of seawater desalination plants to help meet the country's growing water needs,  and so far, Egypt has built 82 desalination plants, with a total capacity of 917,000 cubic meters per day. The government also plans to build 14 new desalination plants to raise water capacity to 1.4 million cubic meters per day. Egypt has also launched a project worth EGP 80 billion (4, $26 billion) to rehabilitate canals with total lengths of 20,000 square kilometers.

If the project of building a station on the Euphrates River is implemented by the Egyptian side, it will contribute to:

•  Conservation of potable water and expansion of agriculture.

• Development of non-conventional water sources, such as desalination of watershed  water, purification of sewage  (sewage), heavy water and agricultural drainage and reuse in irrigation of agricultural crops without harming human, animal and plant health.

• Reducing the need for synthetic fertilizers due to the presence of necessary elements in that treated water.

• Increase the availability of water for drinking, cleaning, irrigation and domestic uses andreduce over-extraction of groundwater.

•     Reduce nutrient loads to river water, canals and other surface water resources.

•     Reduce manufacturing costs to use high-quality reclaimed water and increase agricultural production.

•     Promote environmental protection by preserving wetlands and ponds.

Egypt has state-of-the-art water research centers specialized in river hydrology and the development of  irrigation and water supply systems, so Egypt has come a long way in building water treatment plants, reusing wastewater and building dams to harvest rainwater.

Iraq can benefit from this Egyptian expertise in dealing with the country's acute water shortages." Through the following points: -

1.     Egypt provides a number of training courses for specialists from the Iraqi side in the fields of construction and maintenance of rainwater harvesting dams, numerical mathematical models, rational management of groundwater, monitoring and control systems for groundwater reservoirs .

2.      Cooperation in the preparation of joint research and studies and the promotion of joint scientific research in the field of reuse of agricultural drainage water, protection of beaches, weed removal from waterways, interference of salty seawater with fresh water, removal of the Nile rose in Iraq and benefit from it.

3.     In the field of implementation of pilot projects, it was agreed that Egypt would provide technical advice for the implementation of a forecasting and early warning system in the State of Iraq, the use of satellite images to calculate irrigation efficiency and the use of a soil moisture measuring device, as well as the Egyptian side to provide technical support for the implementation of a pilot experiment to establish a telemetric monitoring network to monitor water data in one of the projects or directorates of water resources in Iraq.