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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Lifestyle
Asharq Al-Awsat

Iraq's 'Pearl of the South' Lake Sawa Dry amid Water Crisis

A general view of the dried up Lake Sawa Iraq, is seen Saturday, June 4, 2022. Hadi Mizban/AP

Hussam al-Aqouli remembers the exact spot along southern Iraq’s Lake Sawa where his two daughters once dipped their feet into clear waters. Now he stands there two years on and the barren earth cracks beneath him.

This year, for the first time in its centuries-long history, the lake dried up. A combination of mismanagement by local investors, government neglect and climate change has ground down its azure shores to chunks of salt.

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