Tell Tamr, NE Syria. A girl fills jugs and buckets with water in the courtyard of Mousab bin Omayer school in Tal Tamr, a town in north-east Syria. The school has been home to 224 refugees from the city of Ras al-Ayn on the Turkish border since October 2019, when Turkey launched an offensive into northern Syria. With no access to running water refugees have to buy supplies from trucks.
Syria Water War (2021)
How drought, Turkish dams and the occupation of a water station are leading to a major water crisis in Syria - Text by Bart von Laffert
Turkish occupation of Alouk water station in 2019, an unprecedented reduction of Euphrates river’s in- flow from Turkey to Syria as a result of Ataturk dam in Turkey, and an extremely scarce rainfall season, converged, affecting over 5.5 million people, who struggle to have their water needs met. Civilians, especially the poorest and the more vulnerable, are left to pay the price of this converging crisis.
Tell Tamr, NE Syria. The Khabur river was once the largest tributary of the Euphrates in Syria and one of the main water sources for the city of Hasakah (about 25 miles downstream from Tal Tamr). Today, the river is dry, a result of low rainfall and a dam across the border in Turkey.
Hasaka, NE Syria. Trucks transport water from wells in the countryside east of Hasakah to the city. Since the Turkish occupation of Alouk in October 2019, water has been repeatedly cut off.
Ayed Sarir village, Tabqa, NE Syria. Ahmad Mahmoud Alahri, 62, and his brother have lost 6,000 of their 8,000 olive, lemon and fruit trees. Roughly half were destroyed by Islamic State militants, and half in the past year due to droughts.
Hasaka (Khashman neighborhood), NE Syria. Mohammed Abdo (right), 60, co-chair of the local commune, and his wife’s sister Berivan (an unemployed civil engineer) are sitting in the living room. Their neighbourhood, Khashman, in the eastern outskirts of Hasakah, was one of the worst-hit by the water crisis that affected at nearly 460,000 people in north-east Syria in the summer.
Al-Hasaka, NE Syria. Engineer Khaled Abdaljabr looks at an empty pool that used to purify water for Hasakah at al-Himma water station.
Al-Hasaka, NE Syria. Sara Omar Dawoud, a paediatric nurse at Hasakah national hospital.
Al-Hasaka, NE Syria. The paediatric ward at Hasakah national hospital. Most children have been admitted due to water-related illnesses: diarrhoea, vomiting, and enteritis (inflammation of the small intestine). Between April and May, more than 1,359 people fell ill due to contaminated water in Hasakah province.
Hasaka, NE Syria. Water leaking from a water truck in Hasaka. Big trucks transport water from wells from around 30-40 km in the Eastern countryside of Hasaka and then sell it to smaller trucks (3,000 liras per 1000 liters - around 0.75 USD) that then deliver it to households around the city (for 7,000 liras per 1000 liters - around 2 USD).
Tabqa, NE Syria. Workers at a water station on the Tabqa dam reservoir (also known as lake Assad) are trying to replace some pipes to restore the station functionality.
Raqqa, NE Syria. Children dive into the Euphrates river in Raqqa. The river used to be too dangerous too swim in this point, but since January 2021 the water flows of the Euphrates River from Turkey into Syria have been substantially lower than average, leading to critically low water levels.
Dawdiyye, NE Syria. A woman and her child at sunset in the rural village of Dawdiyye, 6 miles north of Hasakah. More and more people who used to rely on agriculture are leaving the village. According to UN aid agency, Ocha, the disruption has affected direct access to water for approximately 460,000 people in north-east Syria. In total, up to 1 million people have been affected.