Iraq’s Ancient Water Wisdom Faces a Modern Reckoning
The land between the Tigris and Euphrates was once a wellspring of invention. Thousands of years before modern irrigation, the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians carved canals, engineered flood basins, and developed qanat systems—ingenious underground channels that carried water from mountain springs to distant farms.
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An ancient Qanat system in Persia. Spread throughout the arid Middle East, these systems predated Roman aqueducts but the historical narrative isn’t told
As tensions over water intensify across Iraq and the wider Middle East, the 5th Baghdad International Water Conference has cast a timely spotlight on the country’s fragile water future—and its ancient hydrological past.
Held in the heart of Mesopotamia—where early civilizations once mastered the art of water management—the conference drew regional experts and leaders to Baghdad to confront a crisis that’s becoming more urgent by the year: water scarcity. With rivers running dry and modern agricultural systems straining under the pressure, Iraq finds itself at a crossroads between its hydraulic heritage and an increasingly parched present.