Pictures and video clips - broadcast by Iraqi media showing the disappearance of the famous natural lake of Sawa in Al-Muthanna Governorate (south of the country) due to the drought afflicting the country - shocked the Iraqi street.

Director of the Environment of Muthanna Governorate Youssef Sawadi said - in a media statement - that "there are 3 main factors behind the drought that affected it, including climate change that affected the world, and Iraq of the countries most affected by it, and the change of seismic plates that changed its natural course underground, as well as the Dozens of farmers, factory owners and factories constructing artesian wells that used the groundwater too much, which contributed to a very large drop in the quantities arriving to it.

Sawadi called on the Iraqi government to "form committees to follow up on the issue, while calling on international organizations to participate in solving what he described as the "environmental disaster" that befell the lake, which was considered one of the famous and unique natural phenomena in Iraq and extends its life for thousands of years.

Iraqi meteorologist Sadiq Attia told Al Jazeera Net that the water in Lake Sawa began to gradually recede until it dried up completely, and the reason, according to specialists, is due to the movement of tectonic plates over time, which caused the drying up of rivers under the groundwater feeding the lake, and the establishment of laboratories west of the lake caused the drying out of the feeding wells. to her.

He believes that the restoration of life to the lake can only take place through international bodies that own specialized equipment in this field, as well as the availability of funds for this work.

Iraq does not have any possibility currently.

Lake Sawa was teeming with different types of waterfowl (Reuters)

Iraqi shock

And Iraqis expressed, through their accounts on social media, their shock and sadness at what they saw of pictures of Lake Sawa, while observers and specialists warned of the danger of the drought afflicting Iraq.

And the team of "Geological Adventurer" specializing in earth sciences said - on its Facebook page - that "one of the reasons for the drought is the use of intensive pumping of groundwater from a site located south of the lake to feed the salty waters of Samawa, from which sodium chloride is extracted, in addition to the use of illegal wells in agriculture. ".

The team called for "there to be a system of work and cooperation between the Ministry of Water Resources, the Iraqi Geological Survey, scientific departments and Earth sciences departments in Iraqi universities with the Ministry of Interior to combat wells that violate the preservation of the Iraqi hydrogeological system and to conduct extensive and comprehensive studies."

Lake Sawa formed 10,000 years ago (Reuters)

Journalist and blogger Makhlid Nizar said - via his Twitter account - that "Sawa Lake has disappeared due to poor planning, mismanagement of water policy, and the government's lack of attention to all local and external warnings."

Nizar expressed his dissatisfaction with the disappearance of an important tourist attraction such as Lake Sawa, pointing out that there is a report indicating that the salt threatens the ancient city of Babylon.

Lake Sawa has been destroyed due to poor planning, mismanagement of the water policy, and the government's lack of attention to all local and foreign warnings... Now, one is coming to eat, you are going to break tourism in the country!!

Here is a tourist attraction that has disappeared, and I give you good news today. I read a report that the ancient city of Babylon will be eaten by salt.. pic.twitter.com/YzsZfOj4X9

— Mukhallad - Makhlid Nizar (@Mukhallad12) April 17, 2022

Political researcher Mustafa Al-Saray wrote - on his Twitter account - "In the Iranian city of Mashhad, an artificial lake was made in order to be a tourist facility, and in fact this was done and it became a commercial area as well, and in the city of Samawa there is a natural lake called "Sawa" that dries up completely as a result of neglect and lack of Correct management.

Al-Saray added that in Iraq, "human resources have dried up and the drought has turned to natural resources."

In the city of Mashhad, an artificial lake was created in order to be a tourist facility, and in fact this was done, and it became a commercial area as well.


In the city of Samawah, there is a natural lake called “Sawa” that dries up completely as a result of neglect and lack of proper management.


Human resources dried up and drought turned into natural resources.# Iraq # Samawah # Sawa pic.twitter.com/uCx0OufEHt

— Mustafa Al-Saray (@mustafaalsarray) April 17, 2022

And the political activist Ahmed Al-Abdullah said - through his account on Twitter - that "the drought of Lake Sawa and the scarcity of severe water passes on Diyala and the rest of the central and southern governorates, and the Iraqi political actor is lax and takes refuge in the dollars of the two neighbors Turkey and Iran, which stop the water releases without accountability and are the lifeblood of agricultural lands." I'm going to the yard."

#censorship_awareness

The drought of Lake Sawa and the scarcity of difficult water passing through Diyala and the rest of our governorates in the center and south, and the Iraqi political actor is lax, taking refuge in the dollars of the two neighbors Turkey and Iran, and the water releases without accountability and no relative, and the lifeline of agricultural lands is going to the yard and your eyes

"A dispute over chairs and the people are barefoot" pic.twitter.com/cPtiUWANXL

— Eng. Ahmed Al-Abdullah (@Ahmedyee2) April 18, 2022

Lake Sawa is one of the most important landmarks in southern Iraq (the island)

Unique composition

Lake Sawa is one of the most important distinctive features in southern Iraq, due to its unique composition and the natural phenomena that accompanied it.

It is distinguished from other lakes by many things, including the absence of rivers or a shallow watercourse that feeds it. Rather, it depends on the springs and the groundwater flowing from under the lake that filters to it from the nearby Euphrates River, through the fissures and cracks at the bottom.

The lake is 5 meters above sea level, which prevents it from being seen except from very close distances.

Lake Sawa was one of the unique lakes due to its high salinity (Reuters)

Lake Sawa is one of the unique lakes due to its high salinity rate compared to the rest of the lakes and rivers in Iraq, where the salinity of the lake’s water is 1500 per million, which is very high as it is 1.5 times higher than the salinity of the Arabian Gulf.

Sawa is surrounded by a natural limestone wall that re-closes itself when broken, due to the rapid hardening of the limestone in the water. It also contains very small fish that are high in grease, as they completely melt when trying to cook them. The lake is 5 kilometers long and nearly two kilometers wide.

Aquatic plants do not grow inside the lake or on its banks due to the salinity of its waters. One type of fish lives in Sawa Lake, the "Arabian puppy fish".

In contrast to the poor aquatic life, the lake abounds with types of water birds, where the types of birds reach 25 species, the most important of which are ducks and the Iraqi hoopoe. water.