Despite all of the many discrepancies and contradictions in the estimate of the water
balance in the Barada Awaj basin, all the research and reports, both local and
international, indicate that the basin suffers from water depletion. The
agricultural sector is the largest consumer of water, and the area of land
irrigated by the basin has risen significantly. Rapid population growth as a
result of natural increase and massive immigration to the basin, piratical
well-digging without permits, the failure to increase the area of land
irrigated by modern methods and a decrease in rainfall and the drought that has
affected Syria in general and the Barada Awaj basin in particular, have led to
a water shortage in the basin during the first decade of this century.
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