As-salamu alaykum - Salty water is hurting farmers and animals in Basra
As-salamu alaykum. May Allah ease the hardship of the people affected.
BASRA - Umm Ali, a 40-year-old farmer from the old Al-Mashab marshes, says the river water they once used for drinking, cooking and even wudu has become too salty and is making people and animals sick. This season she says dozens of her ducks and 15 chickens died after drinking brackish water. “I cried and grieved, I felt as if all my hard work had been wasted,” the widowed mother of three told reporters.
Iraq has been hit hard by drought and low rainfall for years. Officials say salinity in the south has reached record levels - central Basra recently recorded about 29,000 parts per million (ppm), compared with 2,600 ppm last year. For reference, fresh water should be under 1,000 ppm, while seawater is around 35,000 ppm.
Experts warn that when the Tigris and Euphrates meet at the Shatt Al-Arab they bring pollutants along their course, and with very low river flows the waterway is no longer holding back seawater. Hasan Al-Khateeb from the University of Kufa says the drop in levels is allowing Gulf water to push upstream, making the river very brackish.
Local farmers are being hit hard. Zulaykha Hashem, 60, says she has to wait before she can water her pomegranate, fig and berry trees because the water is too salty. Many women in Basra and nearby provinces work in agriculture - leaving isn’t easy for them. “We cannot even leave. Where would we go?” Hashem asked, describing how people get stuck in this cycle.
The UN and migration agencies warn that rising salinity is killing palm groves, citrus and other crops, and climate-related problems have already displaced tens of thousands in central and southern Iraq.
Maryam Salman, in her 30s, moved from Missan to Basra hoping better grazing for her buffalo; near her house locals showed three buffalo skeletons that had died from lack of usable water. “Water is not available... neither summer nor winter,” she said.
Fish stocks are down too. Hamdiyah Mehdi says her fisherman husband comes home empty more often because of the murky, salty water. The family has felt the pressure - from lost income to health issues like her children’s rashes - and tempers run short after long hard days.
Iraqi authorities point to dams in Turkiye and reduced upstream flows as a big part of the problem, saying Iraq now gets less than 35% of its expected share from the two rivers. Experts say Iraq must both secure its river rights and expand desalination, and the government has announced a desalination project in Basra with a planned capacity of one million cubic meters per day.
This is a growing crisis that affects drinking water, hygiene, crops and livestock - and the daily lives of many Muslim families in the south. Insha'Allah solutions come soon. May Allah protect the vulnerable and grant relief to those suffering.
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