Navigating Rivers and New Cities: Migration and Water Scarcity

Basra, ThiQar, IRAQ – Torrential rains and extreme floods of 2019 were followed by extended periods of drought and hardship for thousands of families in the southern governorates of Iraq. Sustenance farmers, fishermen and those with livestock – all had to abandon their ancestral way of life as the rivers and estuaries dried up, the marshes retreated from coastlines and livestock died from hunger and thirst. Entire families and neighborhoods relocated in search of jobs and stability.  

In 2020 alone, over 1,300 households had moved to urban areas of the governorates to secure better access to basic services and seek government assistance. The country’s primary source of water – the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers – has been decreasing at an unprecedented rate. Over the years, degradation of the quantity and quality of water has kept the risk of displacement high in southern Iraq. 

Five years later, we meet with affected families in Basra and ThiQar to learn how they have been faring – those who hope to stay where they are for as long as possible; those who are considering moving; and those who made the difficult decision to move to urban areas. 

Sukaina moved to Markaz Al-Basra neighborhood in Basra city in 2020, along with several families who were affected by water scarcity in the village of Nahr Al-Azz, in the Qurna district, Basra. Today at age 73, she dreams of the simple life of her village, where everything was plentiful and affordable.   

“I wish it would rain again,” she shares with us, seated among a group of women from the community in a neighbor’s house. “Decades ago, during the rainy season, it would pour continuously for four-five days straight. We were annoyed with the rains because it forced us to stay indoors”.  

Sukaina’s family of five could sustain themselves by farming on their land, raising livestock and crafting mats and furnishing from reeds. Climate change, rising temperatures and reduced rainfall eventually led to extended periods of droughts, where rivers dried up and there was no drinking water left. The farms were no longer yielding sufficient crops, and the livestock was dying out. Sukhaina and her family made the difficult decision to move closer to Basra city centre, where they had a better chance to earn a living and access basic services like healthcare and government welfare.  

“Life in a big city like Basra is challenging, and it took us some time to adjust,” shares Sukaina, “but at least we have better access to water and social welfare”. Sukaina lives with her husband who is visually impaired, in an informal settlement alongside 150 families who moved to Basra city for similar reasons. And despite the challenges of the city, Sukaina will not return to her village. Her story is one of many thousands displaced due to the long-term effects of water scarcity and climate change.  

Two hours away, in the village of Nahar Al Saad, Al Islah in Thi Qar governorate, Hassan (43) and his family of eight are waiting for the water treatment plant to be functional again.  

“Without water, there is no life,” shares Hassan as his children play around him in his courtyard. “We were considering moving to another area to save my children from thirst and hardship. But with the new water treatment plant there is hope”.  

The Nahar Al Saad water treatment plant, rehabilitated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Iraq, with support from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (UK), is about 60 per cent complete and will pump and treat water from the nearby river, bringing clean potable water to 530 households in the village. Once functional, the plant will provide 50m3 of water per hour and support the village in agriculture, livestock rearing and meet daily household needs to pre-drought levels. More importantly for Hassan’s family, this will eliminate the expense of purchasing drinking water, which cost nearly 10 per cent of his monthly income.  

Unfortunately, within the same district less than an hour away, Hassan’s hope is met with another’s heartache: Basim (52) grieves for the barren and dried up marshes, that were once his sole source of income and well-being.  

“Life was beautiful, before,” he shares. “I would wake up before dawn at 4am, and fish and hunt in the marshes until 11am. Then in the afternoon, I played football”. Financially stable and content with his life, Basim never thought he would have to leave his village. However, water scarcity and lack of alternative livelihoods for his children has him weighing the odds of sustaining this life.  

Sukhania, Hassan and Basim have never met each other, but their life stories are intricately linked, with common challenges related to water scarcity and shared histories of surviving and adapting to the effects of climate change in Iraq. IOM’s Climate Emergency Tracking conducted by Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) in Iraq has recorded 28,379 families (170,274 individuals) displaced by drought between 2016 – 2024, in the 513 locations assessed across 12 governorates in central and southern Iraq.  

Unless mitigated with extensive support to at-risk communities through better water infrastructure and increased access to potable water; displacement due to water scarcity and associated challenges will continue to rise, impacting community welfare, quality of life and health of displaced populations.  

Since 2020, IOM has supported the Government of Iraq to improve access to safe water to over 1 million inhabitants in southern Iraq by constructing or rehabilitating over 100 water infrastructure projects; mobilized hundreds of community-led initiatives to address soil degradation due to water scarcity; and supported over 300 small and medium size agricultural enterprises to expand their businesses and be more resilient to the adverse effects of climate change in Iraq.  

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