2. Introduction
Samawah or As Samawah (Arabic language) is a city in Iraq, 280 kilometres (174 mi)
southeast of Baghdad. The city of Samawah is the modern capital of the Al Muthanna
Governorate. The city is located midway between Baghdad and Basra, at the northern edge of
the governorate. The province was established in 1975; prior to that date it was a unified
. province along with Qadissiya (Diwaniya) and Najaf
3. The city is built on both sides of the Euphrates river; there are four bridges in the centre of
town for crossing between the two sides. The west bank of the city contains the commercial
heart of the city, and includes the old town .The west bank is the site of the covered
market Suq Al Masgoof, which dates to the Ottoman period. The area surrounding the
market is the old city with its Byzantine maze of crowded markets and streets.
.
4. The eastern side of the city including 'Qushla' has a more modern feel and contains a number of estates of
apartment blocks built during the 1970s and 1980s, As Samawah Stadium, which is home to the local
Muthanna football team Samawa FC, as well as technical colleges and the polytechnic. There too is Al
Qushla,
the
historic
"OttomanBarracks".
5. The most famous attraction of Samawah is the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city
of Uruk which dates to 4000 BC. This was the largest city in Sumer, extending over 2 km².
Uruk was not only the largest city of the first urban civilisation on earth, but it is also the
place where the first written script was discovered, the oldest dating back to 3300 BC.
6. Green space
Samawah is built on both sides of the Euphrates and is surrounded by hundreds of palm groves
that give it a tropical feel, especially in the southern and northern suburbs. These groves provide
cool respite from the scorching heat of Mesopotamia and were the inspiration for the famous
Iraqi
folk
song
"The
Palm
of
Samawah"
7. Samawah has a large salt lake called Lake Sawa, which once had a tourist village that has
since fallen into disrepair. The lake is located 25 km (15 mi) to the north of the city centre
and is accessible by road. The lake has no obvious source, neither river nor ancient link to a
sea. The water is extremely salty due to heavy evaporation in the searing heat of
Mesopotamia and supports no marine life. A unique feature of the lake is that the water is
above ground level surrounded by natural levees. Due to the high levels of salt in the lake,
the levees heal themselves if a break is made in the levee, stopping the water from flowing
.
.down to ground level
8. Health and healthcare
Samawah's medical facilities have improved greatly since 2003. The renovation of the
central hospital with the aid of Japanese development funds has resulted in an
improvement in medical provision for the residents of the province. New facilities, such
as anMRI scanner, have been added to the existing medical units.
Samawa has six hospitals and 12 public medical clinics. In 2003, there were 140 general
practice medical doctors in the province
9. Ecoomic base
Al samawa is a large producer of dates and various types of salt, which can be utilized to
produce cement. The largest cement establishment in Iraq is located in this province,
although today operating at a reduced capacity. Considerable amounts of poultry are also
raised in the province. Also samawa has over 140 poultry farms with various kinds of plants
.
fruit,vegetables
10. Education
samawa has 61 secondary schools, five vocational schools (commercial and
industrial), and three teacher training institutes. Al Muthanna University is
an Iraqi university located in Samawah, It was established in 2007 have many
departments such as medicine , law ,engineering and a lot of departments .
11. Climate change
Samawa has a hot desert climate like the rest of the surrounding region. During the summer
months, from June to August, samawa is consistently can be considered as basra one of the
hottest cities on the planet, regularly exceeding 45 °C (113 °F) and may approach 50
°C (122 °F)during July. During the wintersamawa experiences mild weather with average high
temperatures around 20 °C (68 °F). In few winter nights, minimum temperature lows below 0
(.
°C (32 °F
12. Transport
Samawah is served by a highway for road traffic from Baghdad and Basra. The
railway station has passenger services from both Baghdad and Basra and is the
cheapest form of transport. The railway station is located approximately 4 kilometers
(2.5 mi) to the west of central Samawah. Samawah is also accessible via the
Euphrates River.
13. Population growth
The Samawah can be considered as quiet city if we compare it with other cities Especially
where security situation in Iraq is unstable in, so the Samawah attracts a large number of the
population at the moment. The latest statistics for the year 2010, the population had
reached 250,000 and in growing so government decided to implement projects houses and
apartments to meet the needs and control population groth in the city.
14. Food
In terms of agriculture, the staple Mesopotamian produce is grown in Samawah, such as
dates, wheat, barley, citrus fruits, and tomatoes. In addition, Samawah is home to the small
.
and rare trade in wild truffles, which grow in the desert regions of Muthanna province
.
15. Air quality
Samawah had the largest cement factories in the Middle East during the 1970s, with a
total production capacity of 2.85 million tonnes a year. the southern cement factory, the
oldest, reopened in 2005. As of 2007, the four existing plants are producing a total of just
0.8 million tonnes a year due to the shortage of electricity. Five new cement factories with
a capacity of 9 million tonnes a year are under construction on the outskirts of Samawah
and will provide employment for several thousand skilled and unskilled workers as well
as filling. thes factories are causing severe air pollution And that affects on the quality of
the air in samawa,thegovernment stepped in and took charge of pollution management
reduce dust particles from production of cement.
.
16. Employment
The unemployment rate is high, though agriculture and mining are active. The city,
in spite of the lack of high-value natural resources such as oil and gas and a lack of
central government investment, has managed to maintain lively small-scale
industrial, agricultural and alternative sectors.
17. Waste and recycling
Works are underway to build a waste-recycling plant in al-samawa at a cost of $151
million [177 billion Iraqi dinars], The project stands over an area of 30 donums [7.5
hectares] and should be finalized in 13 months . The plant, which would offer jobs for
many unemployed persons, will treat different types of waste, namely those from
residential and trade areas, the state departments, hospitals and industrial
organizations.
18. Biodiversity
In samawa and surrounding areas are many problems which affect negatively on the
Biodiversity such as: poor, rains,global warming .watee scarcity of euphrates river recently
minimized the number of fishes and natural plants and the existance of pollution factors
that difficult to control such as radioactive pollution due to depleted uranium in war.
