Peregraf- Ammar Aziz
Hundreds of people have left their homes near Akre because they no longer have reliable access to clean water. It is just one of the many instances where climate change and drought are becoming existential problems for ordinary people in the Kurdistan Region.
"If someone lives in the village and does not have enough water to irrigate his garden or work with livestock, he will migrate and look for another job," Rashid Ibrahim, the headman of Dudi Sarw village, told Peregraf.
He said that 30 families were displaced in his village. A further 40 families have left the neighboring village of Dudi Khwarw and moved to Akre or other cities. They are located 20 kilometers northeast of Akre in Duhok province. Administratively, they belong to Dinarta district.
"In our village, 40 heads of families moved…out of 70 families. Sometimes water is supplied by tankers, but this is not the solution," Qadir Piro, the chief of Dudi Khwarw village, told Peregraf.
The main source of water for the two villages is a spring in Dudi Sarw, but its output is no longer sufficient for their needs and residents complain that the water is not clean. There are a few wells, but many have dried up.
"This year, the Dinarta district administration dug a well 330 meters deep, but it was useless and no water came out," Piro said.
Sarbast Sabri, the director of Dinarta district, told Peregraf that the problem is not limited to the two villages.
"There is no water distribution network in Bamshmsh village, where there are about 31 families," Sabri said. A project to improve water supply to the village has been approved and will be implemented, he added.
The district is known for its agricultural output. Local farmers grow grapes, pumpkins, and squash, all of which require reliable irrigation. Their livelihoods depend on it.
This is causing tensions between villages, even though they are facing the same problems. The water from the spring first flows through Dudi Sarw before reaching Dudi Khwarw. Upstream residents have set up small dams to irrigate their crops.
"We asked them to increase the amount of water released. They did not, so we took the issue to court and it has not been resolved yet," said Piro, the headman for the downstream village.
In response, Ibrahim said claimed that his village had the right to use the water from the spring and that it was insufficient for their needs anyway.
"The government must dig two or three wells for agriculture and drinking water. They keep saying we will solve your problem soon but it is useless," Ibrahim said.
There are 93 villages in Dinarta with a total population of about 50,000 people. Approximately ten villages have been abandoned for various reasons, including water shortages.
Fazel Mustafa, director of the agriculture office in Akre, does not believe that people are leaving their villages at such a high rate. However, he did not provide any alternative statistics to Peregraf.
"Those who move from the villages to the cities are not all leaving because of water shortages and climate change, but because they like the city or have found a new job or do not want to travel," Mustafa said.
Residents around Akre have wanted better water supplies for years. In September 2023, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced that additional funding had been allocated to the Akre Strategic Water Project. It would supply 3,000 cubic meters of water per hour, which the government claims would be sufficient to alleviate many of the problems.
However, this is far from the first time that the KRG has promised to complete the project, but then not followed through.
In the meantime, villages like Dudi Sarw and Dudi Khawarw are left to argue between themselves over increasingly scarce water resources. The lawsuit over the spring has been in the courts for a year now.
"We tried to resolve the issue through social meetings, but it is no longer in our hands and has gone to court," said Sabri. He added that the Dinarta administration had also tried to solve the issue by digging the well, but that it had failed to find water.
"If it had reached water, the problem would have been solved," he said.