Low Euphrates level threatens Syria’s Deir ez-Zor agricultural associations
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – An official in the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee of the Deir ez-Zor Civil Council said on Tuesday that the decline in water levels of the Euphrates River has put agricultural associations in the region out of service.
Since February 2020, the water levels of the Euphrates River continue to decline, as Turkey withholds the river’s water within its territory. The low water levels led Tishrin Dam to temporarily suspend operations in early March.
Ahmad al-Salem, the Co-chair of the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee in the eastern section of Deir ez-Zor, said that the extreme decline in water levels of the Euphrates in recently forced some agricultural associations to go out of service.
The committee started to clean up irrigation channels and streams near the river bank to ensure water reaches water drawing engines on the Euphrates.
Al-Salem believes that these measures are temporary, since the Euphrates River is constantly receding.
Farmers of the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor fear for their crops, as most of them rely on agriculture as a key source of income.
During the past two years, the level of the Euphrates has fell to unprecedented records, after the amount of water flowing from Turkey towards Syria has decreased to below 200 cubic meters per second, which is less than half the amount agreed upon between the Syrian and Turkish governments in 1987.