Troubled Waters: Documenting Pollution of Iraq’s Shatt Al-Arab River
Publisher: Bellingcat
Author(s): Wim Zwijnenburg
Date: 2020
Topics: Extractive Resources, Public Health, Renewable Resources, Weapons, Waste, and Pollution
Countries: Iraq
When the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers meet in southern Iraq, they take on a new name. They become the Shatt al-Arab, the River of Arabs, a 200 kilometer long estuary which crosses Basra Governorate before emptying into the Persian Gulf. The Shatt al-Arab is the lifeline of southern Iraq; it irrigates agricultural land and is a major transport artery. It is also in ill health.