Ancient Mesopotamian Marshes Threatened By Iraqi Sewage, Pollutants

In southern Iraq, putrid water gushes out of waste pipes into marshes reputed to be home to the biblical Garden of Eden, threatening an already fragile world heritage site

Chibayish (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th May, 2021 ) :In southern Iraq, putrid water gushes out of waste pipes into marshes reputed to be home to the biblical Garden of Eden, threatening an already fragile world heritage site.

In a country where the state lacks the capacity to guarantee basic services, 70 percent of Iraq's industrial waste is dumped directly into rivers or the sea, according to data compiled by the United Nations and academics.

Jassim al-Assadi, head of non-governmental organisation Nature Iraq, told AFP the black wastewater poured into the UNESCO-listed marshes carries "pollution and heavy metals that directly threaten the flora and fauna" present there.

Once an engineer at Iraq's water resources ministry, Assadi left that job to dedicate himself to saving the extraordinary natural habitat, which had previously faced destruction at the hands of dictator Saddam Hussein and is further jeopardised by climate change.

The pollutants also "indirectly impact humans via the buffalo", fixtures of the marshes and known for the "guemar" cheese produced from their milk, he said.

According to Nader Mohssen, a fisherman and farmer born in the marshland's Chibayish district, "the buffalo are forced to go several kilometres (miles) into the marshes to be able to drink something other than polluted water".

And "around the sewerage pipes, most of the fish die", he added, gesturing to dozens of rotting fish floating on the marsh water surface.