Around 28 villages in the Garmiyan administration have concerns with their water sources, with their wells having dried up and deeper wells unable to replenish the water supply.
Villagers in Garmiyan have resorted to water tankers to supply their water due to the drying up of the water sources.
Khalaf Mohammed, a 70-year-old farmer, has been living in a village in the Garmiyan administration for nearly 50 years.
“Some of the villagers came back and built houses because they said they would fix the water, but when they saw that there was no water, they left the village, Mohammed told Rudaw on Friday.
“The remaining villagers are packing and leaving the administration every month,” Mohammed said.
Villagers mention that the water in their village is not suitable for drinking or washing anything.
“The water in our village is useless, salty, acidic, bitter, and not suitable for drinking or washing,” Mohammed Rashid, a farmer in Garmiyan administration, told Rudaw.
“Despite the bad quality condition of the water, we do not have it even for 10 minutes for the whole day from morning till evening,” he added.
Villagers have left their houses and rented a place somewhere outside their village.
Over the past six months, local authorities in Garmiyan administration have twice announced tenders for companies to dig wells and extend water projects for the villages. However, no company has shown up yet to carry out the projects due to fears that they might not receive their gross payments from the government on time.
“In the contracts department of Garmiyan administration, the tender process has been held for the second time, but because it has not been accepted, Garmiyan administration plans to announce the projects for the third time and to get approved as soon as possible,” Choman Ahmad, Garmiyan administration spokesman, told Rudaw on Friday.
Electricity is another issue in the administration alongside a lack of water issues.
However, promises made back in 2020 to solve electricity problems in the village have not materialized.
There are 241 villages in the Kurdistan Region without access to the national power grid, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Electricity, with 118 of those villages being in Sulaimani province.
Seven irrigation wells have been drilled in seven villages of the Garmiyan administration over the past six months.
Water scarcity is a severe issue in Iraq. The country is the fifth-most vulnerable nation to the effects of climate change, including water and food insecurity, according to the United Nations (UN), yet it is lagging behind its neighbors when it comes to a plan to protect its water resources.
