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Iran resumes water flow in joint river to Iraq after months of cut

10 October 2011 18:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The water flow in a river from Iran to Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala, a vital water source for living and irrigation, began to resume Monday after months of cut by Iran, an Iraqi provincial official said, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The Iranian authorities in the morning released water in al- Wind river, which irrigates the (Iraqi) border city of Khanaqin, some 170 km northeast of Baghdad, and many villages in the surrounding areas, after a cut for more than four months in the summer," Turath Mahmoud, spokesman of Diyala’s government told Xinhua.

A source from the water resources office in Diyala told Xinhua that the current water flow is "far less than the past usual levels," but he expected an increase in the levels in the coming days.

The 50-km-long tributary of al-Wind river flows from Iran to Iraq’s Diyala through the Khanaqin city near the border, before it flows into Diyala tributary, one of the five major tributaries of Tigris River.

Residents of Khanaqin have blocked the border point of al- Mundhriyah with Iran for times, in protest of Iran’s cut of the river flow.

Farmers in Khanaqin said their fertile land had turned barren because of the water cut during the past four months and the acute shortage in the river’s flow during the past few years.