Razzaza Lake – UPSC Prelims

Razzaza Lake, also known as Lake Milh, Arabic for Salt Lake, is located between Iraq’s governorates of Anbar and Karbala.

It’s the second largest lake in Iraq and is part of a wide valley that includes the lakes of Habbaniyah, Tharthar and Bahr al-Najaf.

Lake Tharthar is the largest.

The lake was constructed as a measure to control floods in the Euphrates and to be used as a huge reservoir for irrigation purposes.

Iraqis and tourists frequented the lake as a recreational spot to cool down during Iraq’s hot summers.

In recent years, it has been affected not only by the water shortage but by drought, neglect and increased evaporation during Iraq’s hot summers. It has also been hit by pollution due to the diversion of sewage water into the lake and the theft of water quotas allocated to it.

Euphrates River is the longest river in southwest Asia.

It is one of the two main constituents of the Tigris-Euphrates river system.

The river rises in Turkey and flows southeast across Syria and through Iraq.