The Ilisu Dam is part of the Turkish Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) and is the largest dam on the Tigris River in Turkey. It is located on the main river course 65 km upstream of the Syrian and Iraqi border. The Ilisu Dam watershed is the same as that of the Mosul Dam in Iraq. Sharing the same watershed with the Mosul Dam and located upstream, the Ilisu Dam will usurp most of the watershed and deprive the Mosul Dam of most of its current inflow. This paper presents an assessment of the hydrological impact (basically predicts changes on future inflow) of the Ilisu Dam on the Mosul Dam. The assessment is based on the worst-case scenario. The analyses that are employed include geographic information system (GIS) techniques and regression models, along with statistical analyses to numerate expected future impacts on the Mosul Dam’s inflow distribution. Results reveal that the Ilisu will have a drastic impact on the inflow regime of the Mosul Dam. A reduction as high as 78% of the inflow of the Mosul Dam may occur if the operation of the Ilisu and the Cizre Dams is conducted with no consideration of downstream hydrological and environment impacts.

Large amounts of runoff is generated in western Iran and flows into eastern Iraq due to relatively intensive rainstorms along the international border line. Currently, most of this runoff is being wasted by evaporation instead of being stored and preserved for later uses. This paper is an attempt to (1) assess and harness the water resources of eastern Iraq, and (2) propose a storage scheme to use the harvested water in the water shortage times. The runoff of eight catchment areas (Mandali, Qazania, Tursaq, Mirzabad, Galal Badra, al-Chabbab, al-Teeb, and Dwaireeg) is estimated using regression equations derived for areas in the western and southern parts of the United States of America. Several models were selected from two states based on catchment area location, average terrain elevation, average annual precipitation, and slope of main stream. Observed runoffs of Tursaq, Galal Badra, and al-Chabbab streams are analyzed using normal probability plots. Statistical analysis shows that there is no a statistically significant difference between observed and predicted runoffs for different return periods. The study proposes a water reservoir to be constructed within al-Shiwiaja Marsh to accommodate runoff generated within Mandali, Qazania, Tursaq, Mirzabad, and Galal Badra streams. The capacity of the proposed reservoir is 3000 Mm³ and the expected inflow from these streams is projected to exceed the capacity of the reservoir. The proposed reservoir will contribute to the flow of the River Tigris during the non-rainy seasons. More studies are needed to propose and design a storage scheme for two remaining streams (al-Teeb and Dwaireeg).

The present work illustrates the potential application of techniques of spatial analysis via geographic information systems (GIS) to categorize the distribution of temporal and spatial of water prediction characteristics to determine the water quality parameters of the Shatt Al-Arab River (SAA), southern Iraq. Eight main water quality parameters and three heavy metals were measured from December 2018 to October 2019. The total dissolved solids, chloride, sulfate, and total hardness were compared with previous data that were measured from 2014 to 2018 based on data availability. The geochemical characteristics were also investigated to analyze water quality parameters. The study was performed by selecting eleven stations according to the nature areas of SAA. Water samples were acquired from the eleven stations for four seasons (winter of 2018 through autumn of 2019). Results revealed that total dissolved solids ranged between 950 to 8500 mg/L, total hardness varied from 400 to 2394 mg/L as calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), the sulfate ranged from 149 to 1602 mg/L, and chloride ranged from 330 to 3687 mg/L. The results showed that SAA had high salinity with a low hazard of sodicity. The SAA waters mainly fall below the Dolomite-Magnesite tie-lines which indicated the dissolution of carbonate rocks. This research also found that the study area confined from Al-Maqal station to Abu Flus port station where the salty marine water coming from the Arabian Gulf remains for longer periods. The SAA is not suitable for drinking and irrigation water according to Iraqi and World Health Organization (WHO) standards. This study suggested building a blocking dam downstream of the SAA to prevent salty water from coming back from Arabian Gulf.

Application of jet erosion tests (JETs) to study in situ erodibility is gaining popularity. New versions of the JET (original JET versus mini-JET) and new data analysis techniques have introduced questions regarding their operation and data collection procedures. One of the major issues regarding JETs is the high degree of variability of the erodibility parameters (i.e., erodibility coefficient, kd, and critical shear stress, τc). This variability has been attributed to heterogeneity in different soil properties under natural field conditions, but limited research has quantified variability under controlled laboratory conditions, especially for the newer mini-JET. This study uniquely conducted 20 mini-JETs under controlled laboratory conditions on each of two soil types of contrasting texture. Mini-JETs were conducted in situ on streambanks of these same soils in previous research. The laboratory mini-JETs predicted similar values of most parameters with much less variability than in the field. Th...