WATER POLITICS

The wetlands and the marshes north from Basra, in Southern Iraq, are home to an ancient culture and to local communities relying on fishing and herding. To Mahdi Mutir and his family the marshes have always been their whole life. But now he sees no future. His feet sinking in the mud, Mutir looks at his boat, stranded in a pond. There is no water to sail. “It is them, the oil companies: they took our water, they need it to extract oil”, he points at the plumes of black smoke coming out from the oil wells on the horizon.

Iraq, one of the countries most exposed to the climate crisis, is battling one of the worst droughts in its recent history, according to the United Nations. Although water scarcity in Iraq is a multi-factor crisis, the oil industry puts a strain on the country’s already scarce water resources. Oil accounts for 92 percent of the government revenue. In 2021, Europe imported 24 percent of the crude extracted in Iraq. In 2022, amid the Ukrainian crisis and partial sanctions on Russia’s oil Iraq’s production, Iraqi oil exports to Europe grew by nearly 40%.

This new demand  led to an unprecedented “monster profit” for oil and gas companies in 2022. Yet, in Iraq, these companies failed to invest into technology that might limit the environmental impact of extraction. Rather, they keep using the water from the rivers in water injections to extract oil.

The promise of widespread wealth and development from the extraction of black gold is long forgotten. In Zubayr, streets remain unpaved and  electricity is available only for a few hours a day. Families rely on generators but, ironically, often lack oil to operate them. Cancers are increasingly affecting communities and ecological disaster looms over the country.  Local communities are left to suffer the consequences of irreversible environmental degradation.

Photo 3 – Al Khor, Iraq. The carcass of a water buffalo is lying on the ground where Basra Northern marshes once used to provide a living for the local community of farmers and fishermen. Water scarcity has become increasingly common over the past ten years. According to residents in Al Khor, the local marshes got completely dry over the last year due to a water station built by the Italian company ENI that should provide the oil fields.

Photo 4 – Al Khor, Iraq. Intisar Fammi, the wife of Mahdi Mutir, with her oldest daughter, niece, and youngest son in their home. The family of seven fled from Central Iraq when Saddam Hussein drained the Mesopotamiam marshes in 1991. They moved to Northern Basra, where they now live in a  three-storey shack. Now, with the marshes going completely dry, they risk displacement again.

Photo 5 – Zubayr, Iraq. Clothes are hung to dry on a truck waiting to be loaded with oil byproducts. Truck drivers transport oil byproducts from the Zubayr oilfield to factories in the South and in the East of the countries, where they are used mostly to make asphalt. Drivers are typically paid around 20,000 Iraqi dinars, or, 13 euros, per each ton transported. Each truck can transport up to 30 tons.

Photo 6 –Qarmat Ali, Iraq. A worker at the R-Zero water station a few kilometers North from Basra. At the station, water from Al Badaa canal is treated before being provided to the city of Basra. R-Zero covers around 35 percent of Basra’s water needs. The rest is provided to the city by a water plant on the Shatt al Arab. During the summer, the concentration of salt and pollutants can be so high that stations often do not operate properly.

Photo 7 – Basra, Iraq. The Shatt al Arab in Basra. It is formed by the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers and it is one of the most important rivers in Iraq and the main source of surface water in Basra governorate. Its water is used for various purposes, including drinking. As a result of the decreased water level, salinity and pollution concentration increased tremendously. In the summer of 2018, at least 118,000 people were hospitalized due to symptoms doctors identified as related to water quality

Photo 8 – Nahr Bin Umar, Iraq. Fish is sold next to Shatt al-Arab river in Nahr Bin Omar. The seller explains that the fish are not from the river, but rather from the sea or from a harvest. Since 2017, the seller explains, there have not been enough fish in the Shatt al-Arab to sell.

Photo 9 – Basra, Iraq. Shia Abbas spent the night sleeping on the floor next to her nephew, Ali Saad Hashem who is 11 years old and being treated for leukemia at Basra children’s hospital. The pediatric oncology ward has 45 beds and children spend weeks or even months hospitalized. According to the Health Ministry, the official number of new cancer cases in Basra are around 2000 every year. A leaked document from the same Ministry reports a number of at least 8000 new cases per year