‘We have no options’: how water scarcity is changing south Iraq

Basel washing his hands in Faihaa school, Basra old city. Access to clean water has become a luxury in Basra schools, and water runs for only two hours a day. A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre and Social Inquiry reveals that environmental challenges in southern Iraq, many connected to water supply and pollution, have caused forced displacement of people from rural areas

Girls queue for the toilets in Faihaa school in Basra. The school, one of more than 800 in the city, has only four barely working toilets for more than 670 students

A Basra canal littered with plastic and debris. There are more than 40 canals in the city, all with high concentrations of bacteria, chemicals and salt. These canals flow into Basra’s main river, the Shatt al-Arab, where the water is pumped for the city’s residents. According to the report, 59% of the displaced people surveyed said their entire family had left, suggesting a long-term rather than seasonal move

Pollution of Basra’s main waterway, the Shatt al-Arab. The hazardous sanitary situation has resulted in more than 100,000 cases of waterborne diseases in the past three months, fuelling public anger. The report concludes that people would return permanently to their rural homes if they felt they could sustain their agricultural livelihoods

A polluted canal in Basra’s old city. Many of the residents who came from rural areas remain confident that enough water will be available again in the future, although experts suggest it may already be too late to reverse the situation fully

Children play in rubbish on the shore of the Shatt al-Arab in Basra. The city’s young people enjoy swimming and fishing in the waterway. Of those who spoke to the report’s authors, 41% said a number of family members had left their homes in rural areas together, and none had moved on their own

Children playing on the rubbish-strewn shore of the Shatt al-Arab. Groups of young people spend their time by the river, among the debris and rusty shipwrecks. Khalid says: ‘We all know someone who is sick because of the water, but what can we do? There is no clean water in the city, we have no options’

A young man dives from a wrecked ship into the polluted Shatt al-Arab in Basra. Every year, more families feel forced to leave their homes in rural areas to seek alternative livelihoods to agriculture and livestock production

Habib, a carpenter, outside his Basra workshop beside one of the old city’s badly polluted canals. ‘Some days it’s difficult to work because of the smell. It really stinks and gives us headaches and nausea’

A filthy canal runs past Habib’s carpentry workshop. Habib’s sister and brother fell ill from drinking tainted water a few weeks ago and had to go to hospital. “They were very sick but so were a lot of people. The hospital was overwhelmed with cases. We waited hours before my siblings were taken care of,” says Habib.

A displaced woman and her granddaughter in Basra marshlands. As the marshes dry up, livestock deaths cause increasing economic losses in Basra, Missan and Thi Qar, the three areas covered in the report. In all, 67% of livestock owners surveyed in Missan, 65% in Thi Qar and 27% in Basra said they had suffered such losses

Displaced farmers who are now fishermen in Basra marshlands. The deterioration of rural livelihoods has forced many to choose between investing in adaptation in the hope that some water will be available for farming in the future, and abandoning their land. For those who chose to remain in the rural areas surveyed, 57% for whom farming had been their main source of income said they now cultivated fewer crops than before, mainly because of lack of water and salination