ICRC: water, life and the fight against climate impacts in Iraq

By Rohan Laik, ICRC

(This article appeared first on the ICRC website last Saturday – it has been edited slightly here for length. The ICRC also reported on the impacts of drought in Iraq in 2022.)

In an instant, dark clouds engulfed the sky, obscuring the scorching sun in Al-Hizamat, a small village near Afak district in Iraq’s Diwaniyah governorate. Rain was imminent. Almost.

A few minutes later, the clouds vanished faster than they had appeared, and the sun glared down again – sizzling, searing, sweltering.

This village, located in the south, has about 1,200 inhabitants, spread among 125 households. In 1975, approximately 600 families were displaced due to political decisions of the time, and Al-Hizamat had become their new home.

However, because of severe drought conditions that began in 2018, the community, primarily dependent on agriculture and livestock, suffered significant hardships. Due to dwindling agricultural opportunities, many people migrated to city centres and other provinces seeking economic opportunities.

“Many families have left the area due to the scarcity of water, seeking refuge in areas where drinking water is available. As a result, they lost their livelihoods and farming opportunities,” says Ahmed Aziz, an Al-Hizamat farmer.

“Many dermatological, abdominal, and communicable diseases have spread because of water scarcity and the very poor quality of the water they regularly collect from drainage channels.”

‘Families travel far to fetch a gallon of water
to drink over a week’

Adverse weather conditions and sub-standard living conditions have led to substantial economic losses, particularly among the elderly and children. The drought and drying up of local water resources, including the vital Al-Hizamat river and irrigation canals, have rendered most water treatment facilities non-functional.

Consequently, many households now rely on boreholes for domestic water consumption.

“Families travel far away areas to the city centre to fetch one gallon of water to keep it for drinking over more or less a week,“ says Mousa Lateef Radhi, an Al-Hazamat tribal leader.

“Most families can’t access the water because of the long distance to the city centre, and they don’t have the financial capacity to do so. The family will be miserable without a young guy to reach the city centre to fetch water.”

For almost 5,000 years, Iraq’s indigenous marsh people have fished and cultivated crops in the wetlands not too far away from where I stood. Floating reed-islands are built where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet before flowing into the Gulf, where water buffalo are raised and reed houses are constructed.

For thousands of years, ancient Mesopotamia was a land of agriculture since the two main rivers surrounded the Fertile Crescent, where the first civilizations thrived on crops and livestock.

Fast forward to this day, and climate change, water pollution, oil exploration, and the construction of upstream dams imperil this fragile ecosystem and its ancient Mesopotamian culture, which some claim traces back to the Sumerians.

In contrast to the fertile and abundant lands, which once prospered with agriculture, most lands here are today barren and parched. Fishermen, farmers, and boatbuilders among others are abandoning lives that depend on water and relocating to cities, desperately looking for better economic opportunities.

“In the past 30 years, life has been brilliant. We expanded our fields, planting and farming most of the seasonal vegetables: rice, wheat and fruits,” said Adel Mohan, a local farmer.

“The current situation is miserable, and life is almost impossible. The only economic activity in the village is farming. Most families stopped farming while others left their fields looking for water.”

To put the problem in perspective, Iraq is listed among the five countries most affected by climate change according to the UN. Desertification threatens 92 per cent of Iraqi land, while the temperature is rising seven times faster than anywhere else on Earth.

‘The Red Crescent provides drinking water to approximately 500,000 people in
the most vulnerable areas’

As I turn away from the scorching sun, my eyes are drawn to the reverse osmosis unit (RO) built by the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in cooperation with the ICRC, recognizing the crisis in these parts of the country.

This village and Afak district have been identified as among most impacted areas due to water scarcity and climate challenges.

The IRCS installed this RO unit together with the ICRC in 2023 under an operational cooperation agreement entitled Improving Access to Safe Water in Selected Vulnerable Communities in Iraq’s Southern Governorates and Strengthening Emergency Preparedness of IRCS Water and Sanitation Department.

The initiative aims to improve the living conditions of communities in southern Iraq affected by climate change. The project involved the installation of a desalination plant with a capacity of 2,000 litres per hour, powered by a 15 kW solar system, to mitigate electricity fluctuations and reduce dependence on diesel fuel amid ongoing power shortages and fuel crises.

“The IRCS provides drinking water to approximately 500,000 people in the most vulnerable areas through 77 water treatment stations operated by its specialized teams,“ says Nawar, who leads the IRCS Water and Sanitation Department.

“These stations are distributed across various regions in Iraq, many of which suffer from drought and water scarcity and are classified as remote areas affected by climate change.”     

The ICRC’s Water and Habitat team provided technical support and closely monitored the installation process, fully funding the implementation of the project.

Additionally, the IRCS extended this initiative to the nearest school by installing a water cooler to benefit 150–200 students. Local farmers described the project as motivating for families to stay in the village rather than leave to search for water.

The drying up of the famous marshlands in southern Iraq (pictured) do not only threaten local biodiversity, but human health and livelihoods as well. The Climate Centre’s 2024 brief on the Iraqi climate quotes study findings that the country faces “severe water shortages” due to low rainfall, rising temperatures, mismanagement, population growth and urbanization – many of which are exacerbated by climate change, “especially the rise of drought conditions … leading to significant declines in overall water availability. (Photo: Hassan Ali/ICRC)