Ancient Mesopotamian marshes threatened by Iraqi sewage

May 05, 2021 / 8:44 AM

Dozens of rotting fish float on the surface of polluted Iraqi marshes in Chibayish

Sharjah24 – AFP: In southern Iraq, putrid water gushes out of sewerage pipes into the country's storied marshes, threatening the already fragile UNESCO world heritage site.

In a country where the state lacks the capacity to guarantee basic services, 70 percent of Iraq's industrial waste is dumped directly into rivers or the sea, according to data compiled by the United Nations and academics.

The marshland, reputed to be the home of the biblical Garden of Eden, previously faced destruction at the hands of dictator Saddam Hussein and is now jeopardised by poor wastewater management and climate change.

Jassim al-Assadi, head of the non-governmental organisation Nature Iraq, told AFP the black wastewater poured into the marshes carries "pollution and heavy metals that directly threaten the flora and fauna of the marshes".

Once an engineer at Iraq's water resources ministry, Assadi left that job to dedicate himself to saving the marshes.

The pollutants also "indirectly impact humans via the buffalo", fixtures of the marshes and known for the "guemar" cheese produced from their milk, he said.

According to Nader Mohssen, a fisherman and farmer born in the marshland's Chibayish district, "the buffalo are forced to go several kilometres (miles) into the marshes to be able to drink something other than polluted water".

And "around the sewerage pipes, most of the fish die", he added, gesturing to dozens of rotting fish floating on the marsh water surface.