Hammar Marshes - Draining

Draining

During the late 1970s, it was reported that some draining of the marshes was taking place; parts of the Haur Aluwez had been closed off by embankments and drained in order to facilitate oil exploration. Subsequently, much of the northern and western end of the Haur al-Hammar was drained for development of the West Qurnah Oilfield. In the Iran–Iraq War, the southern part of the Haur al-Hammar was connected to the Al-Basrah Canal and thence to the Persian Gulf, directly increasing the salinity of the wetlands.

The greatest damage occurred in the early 1990s, when the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq undertook a series of major destructive drainage projects, at least partly in reprisal for the 1991 uprisings. Reports suggested that the flow of the Euphrates had been diverted into the Third River, a huge drainage canal. By 2002, the Hammar Marshes and the Haur al-Hammar had entirely disappeared.