Iraq Water Resources Planning and Investment Analysis
How Local Reallocation Can Help Meet National Water Resources Management Objectives
- Location: Iraq
- Date: 2020
- Client: World Bank
- Project Type: Water sector planning
Provision of advice on decentralized water management
To date most economic and environmental levers in Iraq are highly centralized – resting with national governments – with little participation of local government and water users. To reverse the consequences of the environmental and economic impacts of poor water management greater involvement of decentralized entities may help improve water and pollution management. A starting point to enable subsidiarity in water management is data on local water balances.
In 2021, the World Bank commissioned Hydro Nova to generate regional, governorate and district level data to inform better management of water resources at the governorate and district levels in Iraq.
Our study provided a review of the role of local institutions in decisions about water allocation and consumptive use and identified opportunities to decentralize some aspects of water management that would draw on local knowledge and priorities.
Services Provided
Distributed water management audit
Our team provided an analytical perspective of Iraq’s land and water resource distribution among the various governorates and cities.
Decentralization in the national water strategy
We studied the current national water strategy and described the main principles as they pertain to regional and provincial water management
Recommendations for implementing decentralized water management
Our climate team recommended ways national, regional, and local institutions could interact with each other to develop new options for reallocating water resources to promote local interests and capabilities while living within the overall water resources limits expected to be available to Iraq by 2030.
