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
Sawa Lake Sawa Lake Sawa Lake () is an Endorheic basin located in the Iraqi governorate of Muthanna near to the Euphrates River, some to the west of Al-Samawa city. This lake has no inlet or outlet, but it draws water from the Euphrates through a system of joint cracks and fissures which transport water to aquifers beneath it. The water's level fluctuates during dry and wet seasons but does not dry up because of the equilibrium state between water feed and evaporation. Lake Sawa is a unique body of water in Iraq since characterized by highest salinity value (up to 35