3 June2003

3 June2003 DRAFT CONCEPT PAPER [by Eugene Z. Stakhiv, Senior Advisor] Commission for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Iraq Ministry of Water Resources (Irrigation) INTRODUCTION Iraq’s Ministry of Irrigation manages water resources more or less the way California managed its system in the 1950’s and 60’s. That is, it’s an effective and complex system that has focused on irrigation needs, but has neglected to account for economic benefits and costs appropriately, has not viewed water as an economic good, has subsidized much of the infrastructure development and operation and maintenance costs, and has largely ignored environmental and socio-cultural aspects of indigenous and traditional water uses. It is a highly developed and controlled water management system, with numerous reservoirs, barrages and pumping stations designed to distribute irrigation water to much of the Tigris-Euphrates basin area. It is accomplished through a highly dendritic system of irrigation canals and drainage canals. A Ministry concerned with modern water management would have, at its core, a Commission (equivalent to the other four Commisions) devoted to promoting principles, practices and technologies within its operations and project planning that balance equity, social well-being, national economic development and environmental quality. Such a Ministry would no longer be an institution concerned with maximizing the single objective of providing irrigation water. It would have to change its mission and aims to encompass an integrated view of all water resources uses, including recreation, flood control, hydropower, environmental restoration, ecological management, groundwater and water quality management and municipal and industrial water supply. The Ministry of Irrigation must be concerned with improved management of Iraq’s water resources and, hence, should be renamed the Ministry of Water Resources. Iraq can become the contemporary "California of the Middle East". A functioning "plumbing system" already exists in Iraq. It has a lot of "wear and tear", as much-needed routine maintenance, primarily on the numerous pumps and pumping stations has been deferred. There is probably sufficient water flowing through the system to meet current needs, and even future demands, if water were managed more efficiently and at least the operation costs could be recovered as a start. The emphasis now must be on better operation, maintenance and management of the current system, based on investment decisions that maximize economic efficiency, environmental quality and social equity. It must, and can readily be made to function more efficiently through improved on-farm management practices, which alone can provide about a 10% reduction in water use over the span of a decade. Since irrigation use comprises about 85% of the water supply (~ 32 km 3 /yr), a 10% reduction is approximately 3 km 3 /yr, or equivalent roughly to filling a 350 km 2 marsh with a meter of water. But integrated water management (IWRM) is much more than just marsh restoration. It is about efficient water use – on the farms, in homes and industries; it concerns the economics of crops and subsidies; it is about improving water quality in the streams as well as drinking water quality; it is about salinity management and reduction of saline irrigation return flows to the streams and environment; and it is about the economically efficient use of water and related natural land resources. It means a regulatory system for water allocation, property rights and prevention of environmental degradation. It is also about cost-recovery of investments by properly pricing water uses, and privatizing those functions that are inherently non-governmental. COMMISSION FOR INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IWRM) Mission Statement: The IWRM Commission will provide the Ministry of Water Resources and its four principal operating Commissions (Tigris, Euphrates, Dams, Irrigation and Reclamation) policy advice and technical support and interagency coordination for a range of planning, institutional, economic, environmental, regulatory and engineering design issues that are related to implementing an integrated water resources management program for the principal functions of the Ministry in fulfillment of sustainable development goals. These goals include balancing national economic development with social well-being and environmental quality in an equitable manner. The functions of the Ministry include: controlling the floods of the Tigris-Euphrates basin and providing a reliable supply of irrigation and municipal water during drought periods; the reliable operation and cost-effective maintenance of the Tigris and Euphrates basin water storage and delivery systems; the restoration and maintenance of valuable marsh areas; the progressive implementation of more efficient water supply and water use technologies such as desalting and conjunctive water use; the development of economically efficient and environmentally sound water management strategies, policies, procedures and regulations. Justification The newly renamed Ministry for Water Resources needs a focal point within the Ministry to create, promote and disseminate the new ideas, principles and practices both within (to its functioning Commissions which are responsible for operating and maintaining the Tigris, Euphrates irrigation and drainage systems, as well as all the dams and barrages and pumping stations, and the Commission on Irrigation and Reclamation that is responsible for planning and designing new projects) as well as for its existing external regulatory and water appropriations role with respect to the other interacting Ministries (Electric Commission, Ministry of Agriculture, Water Supply and Sanitation, etc.) and economic sectors. Soon, there will likely be an environmental protection agency or ministry, which in effect will regulate other ministries as well as the emerging private sector. There will be a need for a considerable amount of environmental monitoring and collection of data regarding environmental impacts and measurement of performance with respect to attaining national environmental goals and objectives and water quality standards. Restoration of marshes and other fragile aquatic ecosystems in the basin will require a good deal of ecological study, analysis and practical experimentation. Management of the growing salt load in the drainage system will require considerable research and development of new farm practices. The potential use of irrigation return flows for marsh restoration and maintenance needs to be explored further through a series of pilot projects. The IWRM Commission, then, should have an Environmental Analysis Center that would be responsible for these studies and evaluations, and as the basis for technical and policy advice for future project planning and design. Similarly, the IWRM Commission needs a complementary Hydrologic Analysis Center to assist not only traditional project design, but also the still evolving field of ecohydrology as the keystone of aquatic ecological management. Climate change is likely to have more pronounced effects in semi-arid areas such as Iraq. Transboundary water allocation agreements between Iraq, Turkey, Syria, as well as between Iraq and Iran (for managing the Al-Hawizeh marsh) will require very sophisticated basin-wide hydrological modeling, with a comprehensive hydrometeorological network of stream gages and continuous weather monitoring stations. The Hydrologic Analysis Center would also be responsible for real-time operation of the Tigris-Euphrates system. It would run the water control center and coordinate releases and diversion of water throughout the system. The existing Commissions would continue to execute the operating decisions of the Hydrologic Analysis Center, operate and maintain their infrastructure and develop future requirements for major rehabilitation, as needed. STAFFING REQUIREMENTS. ( Staff would not be added to existing Ministry payroll – rather it would rely on existing people through transfers and/or replace retiring or transferring employees). IRWM Commission Staff of 100 located in Ministry HQ, along with other Commissions. Staff would be comprised of economists, policy analysts, planners, engineers, social scientists, ecologists and institutional experts. Their function would be to provide position papers on a wide range of water management issues, from the application of economic analysis in project planning to alternatives for privatizing Ministry functions and assets. They would also provide technical support to any National Water Commission that may be formed, as well as liaison with and technical support for international river basin commissions. The Commission would sponsor and rely on the results of studies conducted through the Environmental Analysis Center and/or the Hydrologic Analysis Center. Environmental Analysis Center (EAC) Staff of about 200, with about half the staff comprised of technicians and college students collecting field data, maintaining sampling stations and supervising pilot field studies. Remaining technical staff would be grouped into ecorestoration, modeling, GIS and environmental impacts. Much of the growing workload is expected to be accomplished through contracts with universities, private companies and individual experts. Hydrologic Analysis Center (HAC) Staff of about 150, consisting of 20 hydrologists (statistical, stochastic, watershed process), 20 modelers with hydrologic engineering background, about 25 hydraulic and irrigation engineers and about 25 operations hydrologist/engineers to provide 24-hour monitoring of the system in a Water Control Operations Center. The HAC would also be responsible for developing guidelines and procedures for hydrologic analysis and engineering design of irrigation systems, dams and barrages, as well as developing and updating hydrologic process models and reservoir and system simulation models for more effective operation of the system. They would also be responsible for watershed modeling and dam safety risk analysis. Technical and Financial Report Requirements A new facility site has been approved by the OCPA Chief of Staff, Amb Kennedy, that will house both the EAC and HAC. This will facilitate greater interaction between the hydrologists and environmentalists, especially on a wide range of interdisciplinary projects that cover salinity management, groundwater management, eco-hydrology and watershed modeling and analysis. EAC - New laboratory equipment (old lab completely destroyed). Emphasis initially on mobile laboratories, and portable field sampling kits (~ $5M) Office equipment and computers for ~ 100 technical staff (~ $ 250K) HAC - The HAC would require a similar equipping of new office furniture and equipment (desks, computers, copying machines, printers, etc. for 100 technical staff (~ $250K). The water control operations center would require additional capability of satellite communication between the key 20 dams and barrages in the system (~ $250K). Ultimately, the essential information for water operations is based on a hydrometorological system that collects data remotely and transmits to a central point (~ $10M).