Millions of people in Syria and Iraq are at risk of losing access to water, electricity and food amid rising temperatures, record low water levels due to lack of rainfall and drought, international aid groups have warned.
The two neighbouring countries, battered by years of conflict and mismanagement, are in need of rapid action to combat severe water shortages, the groups said.
The drought is also disrupting electricity supplies as low water levels impact dams, which in turn affect essential infrastructure including health facilities.
More than 12 million people in both countries are affected, including five million in Syria who are directly dependent on the Euphrates River.
In Iraq, the loss of access to water from the Euphrates and Tigris River, and drought, threaten at least seven million.
Some 400 square kilometres of agricultural land faces drought, the groups said, adding that two dams in northern Syria, supplying power to three million people, face imminent closure.
Carsten Hansen, regional director for the Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the aid groups behind the warning, said that for hundreds of thousands of Iraqis still displaced and many more fleeing for their lives in Syria, the unfolding water crisis "will soon become an unprecedented catastrophe pushing more into displacement".
Other aid groups included Mercy Corps, the Danish Refugee Council, Care international, Acted and Action Against Hunger.
They warned that several Syrian provinces - including Hassakah, Aleppo and Raqqa in the north and Deir el-Zour in the east - have witnessed a rise in water-borne diseases.
The areas include settlements housing tens of thousands of people displaced in Syria's 10-year conflict.
Care's regional chief for the Middle East and North Africa, Nirvana Shawky, urged authorities and donor governments to act swiftly to save lives. The latest crisis comes on top of war, Covid-19 and severe economic decline, she said.
"There is no time to waste," said Gerry Garvey of the Danish Refugee Council, adding that the water crisis is likely to increase conflict in an already destabilised region.
Severe water shortages have also hit Lebanon, which is mired in the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history, where more than four million people - mainly vulnerable children and families - face critical water shortages in the coming days, the UN's children agency warned last week.
Severe fuel shortages have also halted the work of thousands of private generators long relied on for electricity in the corruption-plagued country.
Unicef called for urgent restoration of the power supply to keep water services running.
Lebanon's rivers are also heavily polluted. Activists have long warned about pollution levels caused by sewage and waste in the Litani River, the country's longest and a major source for water supply, irrigation and hydroelectricity.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here