Important Facts For Prelims
Razzaza Lake: Iraq
- 25 Feb 2022
- 2 min read
Why in News?
Iraq’s Razzaza Lake was once a tourist attraction known for its beautiful scenery and an abundance of fish that locals depended on. Now, dead fish litter its shores and the once-fertile lands around it have turned into a barren desert.
What are the Key Points?
- Razzaza Lake, also known as Lake Milh, Arabic for Salt Lake, is located between Iraq’s governorates of Anbar and Karbala.
- It’s the second largest lake in Iraq and is part of a wide valley that includes the lakes of Habbaniyah, Tharthar and Bahr al-Najaf.
- Lake Tharthar is the largest.
- The lake was constructed as a measure to control floods in the Euphrates and to be used as a huge reservoir for irrigation purposes.
- Euphrates River is the longest river in southwest Asia. It is one of the two main constituents of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. The river rises in Turkey and flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq.
- Iraqis and tourists frequented the lake as a recreational spot to cool down during Iraq’s hot summers.
- In recent years, it has been affected not only by the water shortage but by drought, neglect and increased evaporation during Iraq’s hot summers. It has also been hit by pollution due to the diversion of sewage water into the lake and the theft of water quotas allocated to it.
