Iraq is planning a major desalination project in a bid to reuse the vast amounts of brackish run-off from its agricultural drainage system.

The country’s Ministry for Water Resources (MOWR) has issued a tender in a bid to find a consultant to help it look into potential treatment and reuse options for the water passing through the Main Outfall Drain, which was constructed to turn 1.5 million hectares of marshy ground in the middle of the country into agricultural land.

Flow through the MOD varies, but it has a peak capacity of 220m³/second (19 million m³/d) at its lowest point, where it discharges into the Shatt al-Arab river, shortly before it meets the Gulf.

MOWR said in tender documents put out recently that agriculture, industry and domestic purposes would all be potential targets for treated water from the project. It aims to open bids from potential consultants in March.