The primary source of water in the marshlands is the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, with several major tributaries flowing from Iran towards Tigris and Hawizeh. From the head of the Upper Mesopotamian Plain to the Gulf, the rivers meander slowly.

Between 1950 and 1965, open irrigation canals were constructed in Turkey. Irrigation systems with canalettes have been introduced since 1965. Irrigation systems with canallettes were constructed between 1970 and 1980. By 1990, low and medium pipe network with advanced pipe technologies have been used.

The Dead Sea is part of the Jordan Rift Valley (JRV), which extends from Lake Tiberias in the north to the Gulf of Aqaba in the south. The bottom of the Dead Sea is, at 790 metres below sea level (m bsl), the lowest point in this valley and the shoreline, at about 420m bsl, is the lowest land surface on earth.