Water resources management in Syria

Not to be confused with Water supply and sanitation in Syria.

Water resources management in Syria faces several challenges. First, all of the country’s major rivers are shared with neighboring countries, and Syria depends heavily on inflows from Turkey through the Euphrates and its tributaries. Second, high population growth and urbanisation increase the pressure on water resources, resulting in localized groundwater depletion and pollution, for example in the Ghouta near Damascus. Third, there is no legal framework for integrated water resources management. Finally, the institutions responsible for water resources management are highly centralized and fragmented between sectors, and often lack effective regulatory enforcement capacity. Water resources policies have been focused on the construction of dams, the development of irrigated agriculture and occasional interbasin transfers, such as a pipeline to supply drinking water to Aleppo from the Euphrates. There are 165 dams in Syria with a total storage capacity of 19.6 km3. By contrast, demand management measures, such as metering, tariff adjustments, more efficient irrigation technologies, and the reduction of non-revenue water in drinking water supply—have received less emphasis than supply-side approaches. The government implements a large program for the construction of wastewater treatment plants including the use of reclaimed water for irrigation.

Water is regulated by the Ministry of Energy.

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