Tigris and Euphrates

The storied Euphrates river, which supplies Iraq with much of its usable water, is drying up. This ecological and social catastrophe results from politics: Turkey and Syria, which neighbor Iraq, do not have treaties with Iraq governing how much water they can take from the river. They take a lot, much too much.

We live on a small planet; what one country does affects another. For other social and ecological catastrophes caused by the mismanagement of water, see many articles on the Three Rivers Dam in China.