The Minister of Water Resources, Muthana Al-Tamimi, called on Monday to raise the level of field and operational readiness to face water challenges, emphasizing the need to enhance water storage in dams and barriers and to tighten the management of water distribution.
Al-Tamimi's remarks came during his chairing of the 137th meeting of the Advisory Board, which discussed water situation management and the cleansing of the system, reviewing the levels and activity of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their tributaries, with directives to intensify the campaigns for removing encroachments on the irrigation network and legally pursuing offenders, especially those operating unauthorized fish ponds.
According to a statement from the ministry, received by the "Video News Agency," the directives included sustainability and groundwater recharge, and it was agreed to include groundwater recharge wells in the designs of water harvesting dams based on the technical recommendations of the strategic study of water and land resources.
Additionally, unanimous approval was given to a draft memorandum of understanding with the Kazakh side for exchanging expertise and developing resource management, as well as following up on the stages of preparing designs for the cutoff dam project in Basra Governorate and the progress made on projects included in the government program.
The fourth directive was to instruct general directors to intensify field tours in the provinces to overcome obstacles and improve the performance of the General Authority for the Maintenance of Irrigation and Drainage Projects, in addition to working on maximizing non-oil revenues related to the ministry's sectors.