Water crisis and drought threaten 12 million in Syria, Iraq

International aid organizations said that millions of people in Syria and Iraq are at risk of losing access to water, electricity and food, amid rising temperatures and record low water levels due to lack of rainfall and drought.

Organizations included the Norwegian Refugee Council, Mercy Corps, the Danish Refugee Council, CARE International, ACTED, and Action Against Hunger.

And the Associated Press quoted the organizations, that the two countries need to move quickly to combat the acute water shortage, and the drought will also disrupt the electricity supply, as low water levels affect dams, which in turn affects basic infrastructure, including Health facilities.

The organizations stated that this is reflected in its impact on more than 12 million people in both countries, including five million in Syria who directly depend on the Euphrates River, and in Iraq, at least seven million people are threatened by drought and loss of access to water from the Tigris and Euphrates .

The organizations indicated that about 400 square kilometers of agricultural land is facing drought, adding that two dams in northern Syria supplying three million people with energy are facing imminent closure.

The aforementioned organizations warned that many Syrian governorates, including Al-Hasakah, Aleppo and Al-Raqqa in the north, and Deir ez-Zor in the east, have witnessed an increase in water-borne diseases, as the areas include camps for the displaced housing tens of thousands.

The head of CARE Regional Organization for the Middle East and North Africa, Nirvana Shawky, urged the donor authorities and governments to move quickly to save lives, as this crisis coincides with an ongoing war, the emerging Corona virus crisis, and the sharp economic decline.

“There is no time to lose,” said Jerry Garvey of the Danish Refugee Council, adding that the water crisis is likely to add to conflict in an already volatile region.

For hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who are still displaced and many others still fleeing for their lives in Syria, the unfolding water crisis “will soon become an unprecedented disaster that will push more displacement,” said Carsten Hansen, the regional director of the Norwegian Refugee Council.