Hammar Marshes

The Hammar Marshes are located in the Dhi Qar and Basra Governorates. They are bordered in the north by the city of Al-Qurnah, in the northeast by the Euphrates River, in the southeast by the city of Basra, in the south by saline lakes and the Arabian Desert, in the west and northwest by the urban centres of Nasiriyah and Al-Chibayish. Its main water sources are the Euphrates and its tributaries. Additional water from the Tigris reached the wetland through overflow from the Central Marshes. Until the 1970s, the wetland stretched over 120 km × 25 km (75 mi × 16 mi) and permanently covered an area of 2,800 km² (1,100 sq mi) that extended to about 4,500 km² (1,700 sq mi) during seasonal floods.^[1] It was the largest in West Asia.^[2]

The shallow eutrophic and slightly brackish Lake Hammar is the largest water body in the Hammar Marshes.^[3]

The main ethnic group in the area is the Marsh Arabs.^[1]

Massive drainage projects were started in the 1990s. Canals and embankments were built that split the once contiguous wetland into two, the West and East Hammar Marshes. An additional barrier between the two parts is the Rumaila oil field.^[1] By 2000, less than 15% of the Hammar Marshes remained. Following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, returning Marsh Arabs broke embankments and drainage works, so that the wetland started to reflood. By the following year, vegetation had regrown significantly in the western part of the Hammar Marshes, and wildlife species returned. Recovery of the marshland habitat has been greater than expected, though there are still long-term risks to the habitat's viability due to pollution and water extraction from the Euphrates.^[2] The salinity level of the re-flooded wetlands is higher than in typical freshwater wetlands.^[3]