While summer rains typically offer some relief, this year’s cumulative rainfall is expected to drop by 40 per cent in some regions, leaving 15 million people who are water insecure in a precarious state without safe drinking water or reliable sanitation.
“With every year that passes, Yemenis see their ability to access water shrink,” said Angelita Caredda, ‘
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director. “Water is a lifeline – not only vital to drink but also to stay clean and healthy, to prevent the spread of disease, to water crops and to care for animals.
“Across the country, safe water is becoming ever scarcer. Yemenis need immediate assistance to avert this crisis turning into a catastrophe. Millions have to cut down on their meals and now they will have to grapple with shrinking access to water. Yemen faces a food and water emergency.”
NRC teams recorded soaring water trucking costs across Yemeni regions in recent weeks. For instance, in the southwestern city of Taiz, 1,000 litres of domestic water, used for washing and cooking, now costs 5 US Dollars - equivalent to a daily labourer’s wage. As an alternative, women and children have to walk long distances to fetch water, a journey fraught with risks.
The scene of the children falling from donkeys and breaking the jerrycans is stuck in my mind. One child spent hours fetching water and then lost it on the way back.”
Displaced communities also told NRC that more people are suffering from kidney diseases as they consume unsafe water.
To help people access clean water, NRC rehabilitated the main water well in in Gawl Al-Saddah camp Abyan governorate and provided the displacement camp in the area with water tanks, significantly improving access to clean water.
NRC has also intervened in other regions, including Marib, Taiz, and Amran, where the organization installed elevated water tanks, repaired water sources, and set up solar energy systems for pumping water.
In 2024, NRC provided more than 50,000 people with access safe drinking water and sanitation services but as cuts to humanitarian funding materialize this work is under threat.