The Tigris-Euphrates
Marshlands
Facts about southern Iraq and Ancient Sumer
by James W. Bell © 2002-4
Until the marshes of southern Iraq were drained during the last decade of the twentieth century, the average depth of water in the marshes during flood season was 3 to 5 feet with a maximum of 6 to 10 feet. Water depth during the summertime was less, completely drying up in some seasonal areas. The water in most marshes and lakes was fresh, but the water in Haur Al Hammar, the lake closest to the sea, was brackish.
During the hot, dry summers, daily marshland temperatures ranged from 68º at night to 104º Fahrenheit during the day with a maximum high of 122º. In the cold, wet winters, daily temperatures averaged from 41º to 59º Fahrenheit with a low of 12º F. Water temperatures in the marshes and lakes fluctuated from a low of 61º Fahrenheit in the winter to a high of 88º F midsummer.
Vegetation in the marshes of southern Iraq was dominated by the Common Reed (which grows 6 to 12 feet tall) and dominated the permanent marsh. Bulrush (cattails growing 3 to 6 feet tall) dominated the seasonal marshes. Cyperus Sedge was found throughout the marshes. The marshes had rich, spongy underwater vegetation while water lilies and duckweed covered a good part of the surface. The underwater vegetation supported shrimp and many species of fish while reeds, rushes and sedges supported diverse breeds of birds and wildfowl.
Many large mammal species were found in the marshes at the end of the twentieth century: wild boar, otter, jackal, red fox, Indian mongoose, gray wolf, honey badger, striped hyena, goitred gazelle and Indian crested porcupine. But lions had been wiped out early in the century when World War I introduced rifles to the area.
Small mammals found in the marshes at the end of the century included rats, mice, gerbils, hedgehogs and bandicoots.
The marshlands had long been inhabited. At mid twentieth century, the area of the marshlands fluctuated between 15,000 sq km (5,800 sq miles) and 20,000 sq km (7,700 sq miles). They were divided into three marshes: the Al Hammar Marsh which was south of the Euphrates River and included Haur Al Hammar Lake, the Central Marsh between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and the Al Hawizeh Marsh east of the Tigris River, on the Iraqi-Iranian border.
The native inhabitants of the marshes numbered up to 500,000 and were called Marsh Arabs, or Ma’dan. They and their domesticated water buffalo, introduced as early as c. 3500 BCE, farmed in the marshes.
After Saddam Hussain crushed the Shi'ite Revolt of March-April, 1991 in southern Iraq, the marshlands became a refuge for Shi'ites as well as Iraqi deserters from the Gulf War. The result was that the Iraqi government, starting in 1992, led by Saddam Hussain, built a system of dams, rivers and a canal, to drain the marshlands.
This series of developments was christened 'The Project of the Mother of Battles' and consisted of a 350-mile long canal named the 'Saddam River' (1992) that passed underneath the Euphrates River in an inverted siphon to keep water out of the Haur Al Hammar lake, the 'Mother of Battles River' (1994), a half-mile wide 'Prosperity River' that drains the Central Marsh and a 55-mile long 'Fidelity to the Leader Canal' (1997). As of the end of the twentieth century, the marshlands had been 95% drained, leaving behind a land that was desiccated and salt encrusted.
To read an English translation of Christ Kutschera's article on 'The Project of the Mother of Battles,' click here.
To read an extremely detailed eyewitness account of 'The Project of the Mother of Battles' drainage program, click here.
For a CIA map (ca 1994) showing the changes in the marshlands of southern Iraq, click here.
The UN has issued an excellent 58-page report of the project entitled 'The Mesopotamian Marshlands: Demise of an Ecosystem.' The entire report, filled with photographs and maps, is available online in PDF format. Click here.
The End
Go Back to the Fact Menu
| |
