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The Ìýheld a water conference on Monday and Tuesday, primarily aimed at discussing 's cuts to water flow into theÌýterritory.

The convened experts to discuss water problems in the Kurdish-controlled part of SyriaÌýover the two-day conference.

Northeast Syria has suffered consistent cut-offs in both the drinking water supplies and a reduction in river flow since at least 2015. The suspected culprit for the latter is Syria’s northern neighbour, Turkey, which is the one of in the world with 635 dams within its borders.

"The water level is dropping, and the cause for these dropping water levels is the construction of dams," a representative of the Civil Diplomasi Center said at the conference on Tuesday.

Two of the most important rivers in the region - the Tigris and Euphrates - flow through Turkey, whichÌýcan regulate the amount of water that its two downstream neighbours, Iraq and Syria, receive via its dams.

A number of other smaller rivers that branch off from the Euphrates into northeast Syria, like the Khabour River, have also been affected by the building of dams.

The Kurdish-ledÌýauthorities of northeast SyriaÌýhave long Turkey of weaponising water supplies to punish them. Ankara views the Syrian autonomous authorityÌýas an extension of the KurdistanÌýWorkers' Party (PKK), aÌýmovement seeking greater Kurdish autonomy and classified as a terrorist group by Europe, Turkey and the US.

The result has been less water available for the area’s agriculture and for daily needs, such as hygiene.

Many residents of Syria'sÌýnortheast do not have access to sewage systems or in their homes, making access to natural sources of water even more important.

The lack of availability of surface water also leads residents - especially farmers - to rely more heavily on wells connected to the area's aquifers. According to a study by the Kurdish-led authority's ministry of water in 2019, in the previous 20 yearsÌýthe number of private wells grew almost twenty-fold since 2001.

In time, this will exhaust the aquifer's supplies and increase the concentration of contaminants in the water. The ministry has already warned that the area's water table is dropping.

The Euphrates also feeds into the Tabqa Dam, where much of the region's electricity is produced via hydroelectric generators. According to the Qamishli-based , "80 percent of northeast Syria’s electricity is hydroelectrically generated".

Reportedly a number of hydroelectric turbines have beenÌýout of commission due to insufficient water levels in the Tabqa Dam.

Syria and Turkey signed a in 1987 obligating Turkey to keep the average flow of the Euphrates River at 500 cubic meters per second. The level of the Euphrates in northern Syria was to be at less than 200 cubic meters per second in July 2020.

One of Turkey's chief domestic concernsÌýis its consistent energy deficit, which its vast network of dams is meant to address.

The (GAP), under which many of these dams have been constructed, provides much-needed economic stimulus to the country's Kurdish-majority provinces, some of which areÌýthe country's poorest and have seen decades of deadly fighting between the Turkish military and the PKK.