Lowering of Euphrates level affects Syria’s Raqqa workers
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – Workers are the most affected due to the decreasing water level of the Euphrates River, Zaher al-Abdullah, Raqqa’s Labor Union co-chair, said on Monday.
Labor Union, which is body of the civil society organizations, links between laws issued by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and those of the social classes and economical events.
There are more than 10,000 workers, who are registered in the union in Raqqa, “most of them mainly work in lands to earn their livings,” al-Abdullah told North Press.
“Thousands of people mainly rely on cultivation which is being collapsed as a result of Turkey’s seizing the Euphrates water in light of the poor economic conditions of many farmers and workers,” al-Abdullah added.
He pointed out that lands will be unsuitable for agriculture in case the Euphrates water level continues to decrease, curbing many irrigation projects.
Condemnation over the Turkish seizure of the Euphrates water flow to Syrian territory, continues in northeast Syria.
Yesterday, protesters gathered on the Euphrates banks near a drinking water station in the town of al-Karamah, east of Raqqa, and denounced water weaponization by Turkey.
On April 29, the Raqqa Civil Council issued a statement, in which it said that Turkey’s use of water as a weapon against the region came after the failure of the military intervention to achieve its goals, and that this action falls within the Turkish hostile policy towards the region.
For more than three months, Turkey has limited the flow of the Euphrates into Syria, depriving large numbers of people of usable water. Turkey reduced the flow of water from the Euphrates River into northeast Syria’s dam gradually, reducing the amount of water received to unprecedented lows.
Turkey keeps water in six dams, the largest of which is Ataturk Dam, the second largest in the Middle East, with a storage capacity of 48 billion m³, violating the international agreement they signed with Syria in 1987 which stated that Syria’s share of water coming from Turkey is 500 m³ per second.
The water flow to the Euphrates River is now limited to less than 200 cubic meters, according to the General Administration of Dams in Northeastern Syria.