Increasing water scarcity is a major issue in Iraq, where it threatens all aspects of society. The severity of the situation is reflected by the UN Environment Program’s ranking of Iraq as the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to decreased water and food availability.

But the situation has not always been as dire. Iraq has historically had plentiful access to water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. However, river inflows have been reduced by upstream countries, namely Turkey and Iran...