Shafaq News- Baghdad
Iraq's parliament plans to hold a special session toaddress worsening pollution in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers amid growingconcerns over its impact on public health, ecosystems, and the country's waterresources.
According to the Iraq Green Observatory, Baez Ismail,the most senior member of parliament's Agriculture, Water Resources, Marshes,and Environment Committee, revealed that the committee will meet after thecurrent legislative recess ends on July 1 before requesting an extraordinaryparliamentary session attended by officials from the Environment Ministry andother relevant agencies to examine the causes of the pollution and proposecorrective measures.
Calling the issue “one of Iraq's most seriousenvironmental challenges,” Ismail warned that pollutants discharged into theTigris and Euphrates have reached unprecedented levels, threatening nearbycommunities, agriculture, and aquatic life.
A specialized environmental team recently identified54 violations and contamination hotspots along the Euphrates River between theIraq-Syria border and Haditha Lake, environmental expert Samim Salam Abu Furattold Shafaq News earlier this month. The four-day survey, which relied on GPSmapping and satellite imagery, documented untreated sewage discharges, illegalsand quarries causing riverbank erosion, dumping of poultry waste and animalcarcasses, unlicensed fish ponds, construction debris obstructing water flow,and widespread agricultural and residential encroachments along the riverbanks.
: The cost of filth: Iraq among the world’s most polluted nations
