Iraqi farmer Umm Ali has seen her poultry die as salinity levels in the south of the country have reached record levels, making already scarce water unfit for human consumption and killing livestock.
“We used to drink, wash and cook with river water, but now it is harming us,” said Umm Ali, 40, who lives in the once-watery marshes of Al-Mashab in southern Iraq’s Basra province.
This season alone, he said, the brackish water has killed dozens of ducks and 15 chickens.
“I cried and grieved, I felt like all my hard work had been in vain,” said the widow and mother of three.
Iraq, a country badly affected by climate change, has been plagued for years by drought and low rainfall.
Declining freshwater flows have increased salt and pollution levels, particularly in the south, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converge before emptying into the Gulf.
“We have not seen such high levels of salinity in 89 years,” said Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources spokesman Khaled Shamal.
Last month, salinity levels recorded in the central province of Basra soared to almost 29,000 parts per million compared to 2,600 ppm last year, according to a Water Ministry report.
Fresh water should contain less than 1,000 ppm of dissolved salts, while ocean water salinity levels are about 35,000 ppm, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The Tigris and Euphrates converge in Basra’s Shatt al-Arab waterway, “laden with pollutants accumulated along its course,” said Hasan al-Khateeb, an expert at the Iraqi University of Kufa.
In recent weeks, the Euphrates has experienced its lowest water levels in decades, and Iraq’s artificial lake reserves are at their lowest levels in recent history.
Khateeb warned that the Shatt al-Arab’s water levels had plummeted and that it was failing to contain seawater from the Gulf.
Farmer Zulaykha Hashem, 60, said the water in the area had become very brackish this year, adding that she must wait for the situation to improve before irrigating her crop of pomegranates, figs and berries.
According to the United Nations, almost a quarter of women in Basra and nearby provinces work in agriculture.
“We can’t even leave. Where would we go?” Hashem said, in a country where farmers facing drought and rising salinity often find themselves trapped in a cycle of water crisis.
The U.N. International Organization for Migration, which documents climate-induced displacement in Iraq, has warned that rising water salinity is destroying palm groves, citrus trees and other crops.
According to the agency, as of October last year, some 170,000 people had been displaced in central and southern Iraq due to weather-related factors.
Water shortages pushed Maryam Salman, in her 30s, to leave nearby Missan province for Basra several years ago, hoping her buffaloes could enjoy the Shatt al-Arab.
Rising salinity is not the only problem now, said Salman, a mother of three.
“There is no water available… neither in summer nor in winter,” he said.
The Tigris and Euphrates originate in Turkiye, and Iraqi authorities have repeatedly blamed dams across the border for significantly reducing their flows.
Iraq, a country with inefficient water management systems after decades of war and neglect, receives less than 35 percent of its allotted share of water from the two rivers, according to officials.
Khateeb of Kufa University said that in addition to reclaiming its share of the rivers, Iraq must carry out desalination projects in Shatt al-Arab.
In July, the government announced a desalination project in Basra with a capacity of 1 million cubic meters per day.
Local residents said the brackish water is also affecting fish populations.
Hamdiyah Mehdi said her husband, who is a fisherman, returns home empty-handed more often.
He blamed the “murky, salty water” of the Shatt al-Arab for his bad temper after long days without fishing, and for his children’s persistent rash.
“It’s been hard,” said Mehdi, 52, noting the emotional toll on the family, as well as their health and livelihood.
“We take our frustrations out on each other.”
