In Sawa, a sharp drop in rainfall -- now only 30 percent of what used to be normal for the region -- has lowered the underground water table, itself drained by wells, said Aoun Dhiab, a senior advisor at Iraq's water resources ministry.
And rising temperatures have increased evaporation.
Dhiab said authorities have banned the digging of new wells and are working to close illegally-dug wells across the country.
Latif Dibes, who divides his time between his hometown of Samawa and his adopted country of Sweden, has worked for the past decade to raise environmental awareness.
The former driving school instructor cleans up the banks of the Euphrates River and has turned the vast, lush garden of his home into a public park.
He remembers the school trips and holidays of his childhood, when the family would go swimming at Sawa.
"If the authorities had taken an interest, the lake would not have disappeared at this rate. It's unbelievable," he said.
"I am 60 years old and I grew up with the lake. I thought I would disappear before it, but unfortunately, it has died before me."
