Aquaplan project

The headwaters of the Euphrates river are located in the Taurus mountains in Turkey where 80% of the Euphrates flows are generated. In that region, the Euphrates flows southwest through steep canyons and gorges before reaching the Syrian steppe and then the Iraqi desert. The last significant tributary is the Khabur river which joins the Euphrates in Syria. Downstream, through its whole length, the Euphrates receives no further water flow. The Euphrates then merges with the Tigris river near Basra (Iraq) to form the Shatt al-Arab marshes, which empty into the Persian Gulf.

The Euphrates has witnessed the development of irrigated agriculture by one of the first civilization (the Sumer). With the partition of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the first world war, the Euphrates became an international river shared between Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The Euphrates is a key water resource for these three countries. Irrigated agriculture has been practiced since 6000 BC and is still being developed in each country. More recently, Euphrates flows have been used to generate hydroelectricity and several dams have been constructed during the second half of the 20th century. Unfortunately, like irrigation, the hydropower potential is not homogeneous: 80% is to be found in Turkey while the remaining 20% are more or less equally distributed over Syria and Iraq.