Agriculture in Syria runoff most of the year. The river flows southeastward across the arid Syrian Plateau into Iraq, where it joins the Tigris River shortly before emptying into the Persian Gulf. In addition to Syria, both Turkey and Iraq use dams on the Euphrates for hydroelectric power, water control, storage, and irrigation. In the mid-1980s, about a half of the annual Euphrates River flow was used by these three countries. Syrians have long used the Euphrates for irrigation, but, because the major systems were destroyed centuries ago, they now make only limited use of the river's flow. In the mid-1980s, the Euphrates
Water resources management in Syria II diplomacy under the Euphrates-Tigris Initiative for Cooperation. Its aim is to promote cooperation among the three countries, including through a joint data inventory. In March 2008 the three riparian countries formed a joint "water institute" based in Turkey that will "work toward the solution of water-related problems among the three". Orontes River. There is an agreement between Lebanon and Syria over the Orontes signed in 1994, which stipulates that Lebanon receives 80 million cubic meters of water per year "if the river flow inside Lebanon is 400 million cubic meters per year or more". This means that the risk