The reign of Abdulhamid II (1876-1909) brought many changes to Ottoman society, so much so that it has been described as being “one of the most decisive reigns in Ottoman history.” Nevertheless, the Hamidian period was also punctuated by important instances of continuity with origins in the Tanzimat period (1839-1876). The impulse to modernize the Ottoman Empire through state-led reforms was one such continuity; another, one might argue, was the set of anxieties that informed the Hamidian regime’s interaction with the Euphrates and Tigris rivers: irrigation networks needed to be expanded to tap into the region’s agricultural potential; and excessive flooding exacerbated by faulty dam and embankment designs remained a threat to both agriculture and health. As this paper demonstrates, nowhere is the overlap of these trends—that is, the Ottoman government’s expanding bureaucracy and the necessity of balancing the productive and destructive properties of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers—clearer than in the activities of the Privy Purse Ministry (Hazine-i Hassa Nezareti) in the provinces of Baghdad and Basra. As the government entity in charge of administering those plots of lands that belonged to Abdulhamid II’s private estate (emlak-i humayun), the Privy Purse Ministry played a central role in expanding irrigation networks and improving hydrological infrastructure in the sultan’s landed property in the provinces of Baghdad and Basra. Abdulhamid II’s acquisition of large swaths of agriculturally productive lands in Baghdad and Basra for his private estate is well-documented. Left unexplored, however, is the Privy Purse Ministry’s role in managing these lands. Drawing on untapped records from the Privy Purse Ministry, this paper demonstrates how the Hamidian regime, with the help of the Privy Purse Ministry, launched an ambitious program to expand irrigation networks and improve hydrological infrastructure in the sultan’s landed property in Baghdad and Basra between the years 1877 and 1901. It does so in three parts: first, it explains the origins of the Privy Purse Ministry and the process by which it helped Abdulhamid II acquire agriculturally productive lands in Baghdad and Basra; second, the paper discusses the role of a network of committees that the Privy Purse Ministry established in Baghdad and Basra for the purpose of routinely inspecting and surveying the sultan’s lands in these provinces; and third, the paper discusses specific examples of large-scale irrigation and hydrological infrastructure projects that the Privy Purse Ministry oversaw in Baghdad and Basra.