Shafaq News – Basra

The Iraqi High Commission for Human Rights in Basra warned that the province is facing a “water catastrophe” and worsening humanitarian conditions due to escalating water pollution.

Mehdi al-Tamimi, director of the Commission’s office in Basra, told Shafaq News Agency that the water crisis—marked by scarcity, salinity, and toxicity—has reached levels "unprecedented in any city in the world,” and demands an “all-out governmental mobilization.”

Al-Tamimi renewed calls for both the Iraqi and local governments to declare a state of emergency in Basra and suspend all development projects except for those related to water, stressing the need for strict enforcement against water quota violations and tighter control of water flow rates under the direct supervision of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

He also urged the urgent import of mobile desalination stations using ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) technologies, which can be rapidly deployed in affected areas until the major desalination plant is completed. Similar technologies, he said, have helped other countries avert drought disasters.