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Context:

• Iraq’s Razakka Lake is drying up.

Background:

• During the 1980s and 1990s, the Razzaza Lake was a source of livelihood.
• But now, one of Iraq’s largest lakes, the man-made Razzaza is seeing a significant decline in water levels and has been hit by pollution and high levels of salinity.

Razzaza Lake:

• Razzaza Lake, also known as Lake Milh, Arabic for Salt Lake, is located between Iraq’s governorates of Anbar and Karbala.
• It’s the second largest lake in Iraq and is part of a wide valley that includes the lakes of Habbaniyah, Tharthar and Bahr al-Najaf.
• The lake was constructed as a measure to control floods in the Euphrates and to be used as huge reservoir for irrigation purposes.

Drying Lake Razzaza:

• In recent years, it has been affected not only by the water shortage but by drought, neglect and increased evaporation during Iraq’s hot summers.
• It has also been hit by pollution due to the diversion of sewage water into the lake and the theft of water quotas allocated to it.
• Razzaza Lake is the victim of a water crisis in Iraq, known as the “Land Between the Two Rivers”, the Tigris and the Euphrates.
• Upstream dams in Turkey, Syria and Iran have shrunk the rivers and their tributaries, seasonal rainfall has dropped.

Iraq:

• Location: Iraq is a country in Western Asia.
• Borders: It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and Kuwait to the southeast, Saudi Arabia to the south, Jordan to the southwest and Syria to the west. The capital and largest city is Baghdad.
• Important Citiers: Mosul, Al Basrah, Baghdad, Kirkuk, Al Najaf etc.
• Physical Features: Iraq encompasses the Mesopotamian Alluvial Plain, the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and the eastern part of the Syrian Desert.
• Rivers: Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf.
• Climate: Much of Iraq has a hot arid climate with subtropical influence.

https://indianexpress.com/article/world/iraq-razzaza-lake-dried-up-7786986/#:~:text=Iraq's%20Razzaza%20Lake%20was%20once,turned%20into%20a%20barren%20desert.

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