Environment and Water

Water levels in the Euphrates river have dropped to their lowest in years with far-reaching implications for the economy of northeast Syria, which relies on its flow for power generation and agriculture as well as drinking water.

The Syrian government has offered farmers more than double what it paid for wheat and cotton last year, boosting the incentive for them to sell their harvest to Damascus instead of a rival administration in the northeast of the country.

Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad has ratified a loan agreement with the Export-Bank of Malaysia for the financing of sewage and water projects by a Malaysian company, in a rare instance of foreign involvement in the country’s wartime economy.

As the flows of the Euphrates River decline, water levels at the Bassel Al-Assad Dam on the Khabour River have enabled the irrigation of large areas for the first time in two decades. When it was initiated, the dam was supposed to be among the most important in the Middle East.

In the past few weeks agricultural lands have caught fire simultaneously in various parts of Syria.

The government has announced the implementation of several water projects in parts of the Raqqa province that are under its control.

A Malaysian engineering company that was active before the beginning of the uprising is exploring again business opportunities in Syria.

Syria’s dramatically poor rainfalls are threatening to have serious economic consequences this year.

After a suspension of two months, water supplies are set to resume to the city of Aleppo.

As fighting continues around the Wadi Barada area, a government official has said that only a quarter of the Syrian capital’s water needs were currently supplied.

The Syrian opposition’s main development fund is investing in a new project to build and rehabilitate water sewerage networks in the norther parts of the country.

Water supplies to Damascus meet only three quarters of the need of the Syrian capital, leading to frequent shortages, a Government official has said.

The opposition-managed trust fund has announced a new potable water project in northern Aleppo.

The Syrian Government approved last week a contingency plan to secure water supplies to the population living in areas under its control.

The Aga Khan Development Network is funding a water project in the town of Salamiya east of Hama.

Syria has awarded a EUR 193 million engineering contract to a Russian company for the building of a water pumping station in the Tigris River.

The level of Lake Assad is falling seriously according to a Government official, endangering water supplies to large urban centres as well as for irrigation purposes.

Syria is planning to award a new multimillion engineering contract to a Russian company after it granted an offshore license to another last December.