On the shores of the lake there are only concrete structures of buildings that in the 1990s were hotels and tourist infrastructure.

Human activities and climate change are destroying Iraq's Sawa Lake

• Lake Sawa turned into a wasteland due to drought.

  AFP

• An aerial view of the rest of the lake.

  AFP

• Latif Debes turned his home garden into a public garden.

  AFP

• A fisherman carries his net amidst the waters of Lake Razzaza, which is facing depletion of fish due to drought and water scarcity.

  AFP

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On the cusp of the desert in southern Iraq, there is no trace of Lake Sawa, with the exception of a sign calling for “no fishing”, in a site that was once a habitat for biodiversity, but has become a wasteland due to human activities and climate change.

There is no longer on the shores of the lake, today, only the concrete structures of buildings that were in the nineties of the twentieth century hotels and tourist infrastructure, receive families and newly married people, who used to go to the area for picnics or swimming.

However, the situation completely changed, as Sawa Lake dried up completely, and its banks became littered with plastic waste, and bags stuck on dry bushes on the edge of the depression, with two rust-eating iron structures of two floating bridges that were above the surface of the lake.

"This year, for the first time in its history, the lake has completely disappeared," said Husam Sobhi, 27-year-old environmental activist, noting that "the area of ​​the lake's water was shrinking in previous years during the dry season."

But now, all that was left of the lake was sandy land covered with white salt, and a small pond with fish swimming above the eye that connected the lake to its source of groundwater.

gradual decline

The water level of Sawa Lake has begun to gradually decrease since 2014, according to the director of the environment in Muthanna Governorate, Yousef Sawadi Jabbar.

This official pointed to the natural causes behind the lake's drying up, represented by "climate change and high temperatures in the desert governorate of Muthanna, which suffers greatly from drought and lack of rain."

The other reason is man-made, and is represented by the artesian wells above the groundwater that fed the lake, which were dug to establish nearby industrial projects related to cement and salt, which subsequently turned the lake into “barren lands,” according to the environmental official.

The government also announced in a statement, on Friday, the presence of more than 1,000 illegal wells dug for agricultural purposes.

rare species of birds

Lake Sawa may need something like a miracle to get back to normal, as it requires the closure of these illegal wells, as well as the return of torrential rains after three years of drought in a country among the five countries most affected by climate change in the world.

The director of the environment in Al-Muthanna Governorate believes that "it is difficult to return the lake to its old reality."

The area has been subject since 2014 to the international Ramsar Convention for the protection of wetlands, according to a large plaque on the banks of a low-lying land that was once a lake.

The same painting also warned against "practicing fishing in any form", in addition to "not approaching the eye feeding the lake at all."

The organization stated on its website that the “chemical composition of the water (in the lake) is unique,” ​​noting that it is “a closed water body in a saline region.”

In the past, Sawa, which consists of "clay rocks isolated with gypsum material", was home to "many rare species of birds in the world, such as the eastern imperial eagle, squid and brown ducks," according to the same report.

Drought is not limited to Sawa, as this is the case for many water bodies in Iraq due to the high rates of desertification and water scarcity.

Social networks constantly transmit images of barren lands and dry areas, especially in the marshes of Mesopotamia, which are included on the UNESCO list, including the Huwaiza Marsh (south), as well as Lake Al-Razzaza in Karbala Governorate, central Iraq.

The World Bank estimated that in the absence of appropriate policies, Iraq could see a 20% decrease in available fresh water resources by 2050 due to rising temperatures.

"She died before me"

Aoun Diab, advisor to the Ministry of Water Resources, told AFP that the drought in Sawa Lake is partly due to the "severe lack of rain."

He points out that the rainfall in the area near the lake decreased to 30% of its previous rates, which cut off the supply of groundwater, which at the same time is subjected to continuous withdrawals by wells.

All of this coincided with “high temperatures (which led to) an exacerbation of the evaporation phenomenon” of the lake’s water, according to the consultant.

The official spoke of governmental measures to reduce the continuous depletion of groundwater throughout Iraq, by preventing the granting of any permit to dig new wells in certain areas, in addition to closing illegal wells.

Many residents of Samawa, which is located 25 kilometers from the lake, have a strong relationship with Lake Sawa, such as Latif Debes, who lives between his hometown of Samawa and Sweden, the country he moved to 30 years ago.

Debes has been working for a decade to raise environmental awareness in Samawa through a campaign to clean up the banks of the Euphrates River, and transform his spacious home garden into a public park.

Debes recalls school trips and holidays from his childhood days when his family went swimming in the lake.

This activist believes that "if the government had been interested in this issue, the lake would not have disappeared so quickly. This is illogical."

He adds sadly, "I am a 60-year-old man who lived with the lake. I expected to die before it, but unfortunately she died before me."

• The Sawa Lake area used to receive families and newly married people during the nineties, who used to go to them for picnics or swimming.

• Nothing remains of the lake except sandy lands covered with white salt, and a small pond in which fish swim above the spring that connects the lake to its source of groundwater.

• Since 2014, the area has been subject to the international "Ramsar" convention for the protection of wetlands, according to a large board installed on the banks of a low-lying land that was once a lake.

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