The Euphrate (traditional name Greek of the River, Persan Ufrat in , Prâth/Frot in Araméen, rear Al-Furat RTL الفرات in Arab, Turkish Fırat in and Assyrian Pu-rat you in ) is a Fleuve of Asia 2.780 km length. It forms with the Tigre in its low part the Mésopotamie (of the Greek μεσο “medium” and ποταμός “river”), one of the cradles of civilization.

Of Pluvio-nival type, its flow is particularly irregular since more half of its flow runs out from March to May and that the flow can fall to 300 m ³ /s against a medium flow 830 m ³ /s (with the entry in Syria) . In period of rising, it can reach 5.200 m ³ /s which can cause serious floods. From one year to another, the volume of water strongly varies passing 15 km ³ at the time of the dryness of 1958 - 1962 to 58 km ³ 3 in 1969.

Another characteristic, the flow decreases while crossing the dry zones because of the strong evaporation, in particular in the artificial lakes, and of pumping for the irrigation. Thus, whereas the average volume of water entering to Syria east of 28 km ³ (1) , it falls to 26 (1) at the Iraqi border in spite of the contribution from the 3 affluents (1,75 km ³) and is not any more that of 14 with Nasiriya in the South of the Iraq (VAUMAS E. 1955) .

Euphrate is a subject of friction between the Iraq, the Syria and the Turkey, the latter wanting to reduce its flow by the construction of new stoppings.
(1) these figures vary according to the sources: the flow at the border syro-Iraqi generally lies between 26 and 32 km ³

hydrographic Data

Course

Euphrate takes its source in a mountain of the chain of the Monts Taurus (Toros Daglari) in Turkey and traverses this mountainous area with a strong slope. It crosses then the zone of Piedmont, arid region shared between the Syria and the Iraq. Arrived around Ramadi in Iraq, it enters the fertile plain of Mésopotamie, passing by Fallujah near Baghdad, and then to approximately 1 km in the west of the ruins of Babylon. It joined the Tigre in the south-east of the country with qurna to approximately 100 km in the North-West of Al Basra to form the Chatt-el-Arab and to throw in the Persian Gulf.

Catchment area

Ces estimates varies according to the sources and criteria of appréciation
(*) : the difference depends if one includes the affluents Sajour, Balikh and Khabur in the Turkish quota: indeed they take their source in Turquie.
Sources: Habib Ayeb, “water with the Close relation-Orient  ” p29
Marwa Daoudy, “the division of water between Syria, Iraq and Turquie  ” p63

Affluents

Affluents Turkish S

Euphrate is composed by the junction of 2 principal rivers:
  • the Kara Penny, length 450 km, takes its source with the Mont Kargapazari to 3290 m of altitude
  • the Murat Sou, length 650 km, takes its source with the Mont Muratbasi to 3520 m

Affluents Syria NS

Three rivers join Euphrate in Syria:
  • the Sajour (or Al-Sajour) : river taking its source in Turkey and bringing from 90 to 125 million m ³
  • the Balikh (or Al-Balikh) : river taking its source in Turkey and bringing approximately 150 million m ³
  • the Khabur (or Al-Khabur) : river taking its source in Turkey and bringing from 1,35 to 1,5 billion m ³ (or km ³)

Source: Marwa Daoudy, “the division of water between Syria, Iraq and Turquie  ” p65

Affluents Iraq iens

There is no natural affluent in Iraq, but the Canal Thartar-Euphrate makes it possible to pour the surpluses of raw Tigre in Euphrate while passing by the Lake-tank of Thartar. More in the South, the Tiger and Euphrate meet with Qurma and form the Chatt-el-Arab in which they are joined by the Karoun

Affluent Iran IEN (on the Chatt-el-Arab)

The Karoun is thrown in the Chatt-el-Arab after a course of 850km in Iran. It pours an average volume estimated at 15 billion m ³ (or km ³).

Hydraulic works

Works located in Turkey

The Turkey had many stoppings on Euphrate and its affluents whose main thing completed today is the Barrage Atatürk. (See “  Project of Anatolia of South-east   ”, the Turkish project of installation of Anatolian South-east).

Principal works of upstream downstream (see “  List of the hydraulic works of GAP   ” for the complete listing of the works Turkish on Euphrate) :

Works located in Syria

Of upstream downstream:

Works located in Iraq

Of upstream downstream:
  • the Dam Haditha
  • the Dam Ramadi which allows the storage of raw in the depressions of Habaniya and Abu Didis
  • the Canal Thartar-Euphrate which allows the discharge of raw Tigre in Euphrate via the Lake-tank of Thartar
  • the Third river: completed in 1992, it was built to drain the marshes of the South, which made it possible to control the area Chiite and to irrigate new grounds. After the war in Iraq of 2003, the Shiites destroyed partially the dams and reconstituted the marshes with 40% (GÉO N°322 December 2005 p128)
  • the Barrage of Hindiya

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