SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said it had allocated 2.5 billion dinars ($1.7 million) to provide drinking water to people amid a shortage of water due to drought and construction of dams in neighboring countries.
“An amount of 2.5 billion dinars was allocated to solve the issue of providing drinking water to houses as a first step in provinces and independent administrations,” the KRG Department of Media and Information said in a tweet on Wednesday.
In April, Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani said following a meeting with governors and officials at the agriculture ministry that the KRG would allocate a budget to cope with a possible facing the Region.
Authorities in the Region have warned that the Kurdistan Region is facing drought and shortages of water due to low rainfalls and the construction of dams in Turkey and Iran, which has reduced water flows to the Region.
Water levels in Dukan and Darbandikhan dams have already dropped to below 50 percent, according to officials in Sulaimani.
Iran has built a dozen dams on the Little Zab and Sirwan River, which are the main sources of water for Dukan and Darbandikhan dams in the Kurdistan Region.
In May, the ministry of agriculture and water resources said the KRG was planning to build nine dams across the Region as part of measures to reduce impacts of drought.
But a Kurdish official told Esta Media Network in May that that up to 16 dams had remained unfinished in the Kurdistan Region due to a lack of budget.
“Whenever there is a budget, we can build many dams. We don’t have any technical problem,” General Director of Dams Akram Ahmed said.
