A Cygnus cargo spacecraft approaches the International Space Station on Aug. 4, 2023. The Euphrates River in Iraq is visible in the background.

The Euphrates River is the largest system in Western Asia, with a basin that extends into Iran. It also flows alongside the Tigris River, and the lands around the two rivers were historically part of the Fertile Crescent, providing ideal conditions for the development of sedentary agriculture, which eventually led to the emergence of some of the world’s first urban civilizations.

Curiously, the Bible warns of the drying up of the Euphrates River. In the Book of Revelation, the climactic finale of the New Testament, the Euphrates becomes the scene of an apocalypse: “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings of the East.”

Once a fertile land, the Tigris-Euphrates river system is drying up at an astonishing rate. In fact, experts at Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources have said the rivers could dry up completely by 2040 due to declining water levels and droughts caused by climate change.

Observations show that in just a few decades, flows in the Tigris-Euphrates river system have fallen to almost half of the average annual flow in drought years. Satellite images also show that the Tigris and Euphrates river basins lost 144 cubic kilometers of fresh water between 2003 and 2013. As a result, water levels in the water system have become some of the lowest on record.

One of the main reasons for the drying up of the river system is considered to be the climate crisis that the world is facing. Unfortunately, the Middle East is considered to be one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, which scientists believe will only make the situation worse.

Bad news for the environment does not bode well for people. Some 60 million people depend on water from the Euphrates-Tigris river system to sustain their lives, mostly in Turkey and Iraq. Since the 2000s, international cooperation on managing the Tigris-Euphrates basin has reportedly stalled, fueling both local rivalries and geopolitical tensions between the river system’s monitors.

Moreover, experts fear that this century could see a series of “water wars” in which nations fight over access to water resources. Along with the risk of conflict and violence, disease is another major concern: scientists fear outbreaks of cholera, chickenpox, measles and typhoid.