In Basra, Iraq, farmer Umm Ali has witnessed a heartbreaking decline: her poultry are dying, victims of record-high water salinity in the country’s southern regions. This crisis has rendered already scarce water undrinkable for humans and lethal for livestock.
Umm Ali, 40, recalls a time when her family drank, washed, and cooked with fresh river water in the Al-Mashab marshes. “Now it’s hurting us,” she laments. This season alone, she’s lost dozens of ducks and 15 chickens to the brackish water. “I cried and grieved, I felt as if all my hard work had been wasted,” says the widowed mother of three, her voice heavy with despair.
Iraq, a nation acutely vulnerable to climate change, has suffered years of severe drought and minimal rainfall. The dwindling flow of freshwater has led to a dangerous increase in salt and pollution, particularly in the south where the iconic Tigris and Euphrates rivers meet before emptying into the Gulf.
“We haven’t seen such high levels of salinity in 89 years,” confirmed Khaled Shamal, spokesman for Iraq’s water ministry. A recent ministry report revealed that salinity levels in central Basra province last month skyrocketed to approximately 29,000 parts per million (ppm), a stark contrast to last year’s 2,600 ppm. For context, freshwater should ideally contain less than 1,000 ppm of dissolved salts, while ocean water hovers around 35,000 ppm, according to the US Geological Survey.
Deadly Waters for Livestock
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, upon converging into Basra’s Shatt al-Arab waterway, carry an accumulated load of pollutants. Hasan al-Khateeb, an expert from Iraq’s University of Kufa, highlighted that the Euphrates has experienced its lowest water levels in decades, and the nation’s artificial lake reserves are at their historical minimum. Khateeb warned that the Shatt al-Arab’s diminished water volume can no longer effectively repel the encroaching seawater from the Gulf.
Another farmer, 60-year-old Zulaykha Hashem, shared her struggle, noting that the water has become “very brackish” this year. She must now wait for an uncertain improvement to irrigate her precious pomegranate, fig, and berry crops. The United Nations estimates that nearly a quarter of women in Basra and surrounding provinces rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.
“We cannot even leave. Where would we go?” Hashem questions, articulating the grim reality for farmers trapped in this escalating water crisis. The UN’s International Organization for Migration has documented that rising salinity is obliterating vital crops like palm groves and citrus trees, contributing to climate-induced displacement. As of last October, approximately 170,000 people in central and southern Iraq had been displaced due to climate-related factors.
Maryam Salman, in her 30s, was forced to move from Missan province to Basra years ago, hoping her buffalo would find better water in the Shatt al-Arab. Near her current home, three buffalo skeletons lie on the parched earth—a tragic testament to the water scarcity that claimed their lives. “Water is not available… neither summer nor winter,” Salman, a mother of three, painfully states.
A Shrinking Catch for Fishermen
The roots of Iraq’s water woes often trace back to Turkey, where the Tigris and Euphrates originate. Iraqi authorities frequently accuse upstream dams in Turkey of drastically cutting down their river flows. Official figures indicate that Iraq receives less than 35 percent of its rightful water share from these two rivers, compounded by decades of war and neglect that have left its water management systems severely inefficient.
Hasan al-Khateeb from the University of Kufa emphasizes that beyond asserting its water rights from upstream nations, Iraq must urgently invest in desalination projects for the Shatt al-Arab. In a positive step, the government announced a large-scale desalination project in Basra in July, aiming for a daily capacity of one million cubic meters.
However, for local residents, the impact is immediate and deeply personal. Hamdiyah Mehdi recounts how her fisherman husband returns home empty-handed more and more often. She attributes his growing short temper after futile fishing trips, and her children’s persistent rashes, to the Shatt al-Arab’s murky and salty water. “It has been tough,” Mehdi, 52, concludes, highlighting the profound emotional, health, and economic strain on her family. “We take our frustrations out on each other.”