Shafaq News- Kirkuk
A worsening drinking water shortage is threatening 95 villages in southern Kirkuk, affecting more than 32,000 residents and putting about 132,000 sheep, along with cattle and other livestock, at risk, local officials said on Thursday.
Declining water supplies had disrupted daily life, agriculture and livestock farming, Rashad subdistrict mayor Muwaffaq Nouri told Shafaq News, warning that farmers could be forced to sell animals at low prices or face heavy losses from dehydration.
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Nouri attributed the crisis to fuel shortages limiting the operation of water projects, encroachments on the main water transmission line and power outages that have repeatedly disrupted pumping stations. He said the absence of an emergency electricity supply had left water facilities vulnerable to any interruption in the grid.
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Local authorities have deployed six water tankers to supply the worst-affected villages and installed 230 household water filtration units for low-income families, but Nouri noted that the measures fall far short of meeting demand. He called on the federal government and Kirkuk authorities to allocate emergency funding, restore water projects, remove illegal connections from transmission lines and provide a backup power supply for the area's pumping stations.
