Five areas face major water-security risks in 2026: Palestine, Sudan, Iran, the Gulf region and Ukraine. The issue is in focus as World Water Week begins on Sunday in Stockholm and online, organised annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute.
The Pacific Institute recorded 420 water-related conflicts in 2024, a record and a 78 percent increase from the 235 incidents recorded in 2022. Attacks on water infrastructure and disputes over access, especially in places affected by prolonged wars, drove much of the rise.
How water becomes part of conflict
The Pacific Institute has tracked global water conflicts for more than three decades through its Water Conflict Chronology. It classifies incidents according to whether water is a casualty, a trigger or a weapon of war.
In 2024, 55 percent of recorded conflicts involved casualty events, meaning water infrastructure was damaged or destroyed deliberately or as collateral damage. These facilities can include dams, pipelines, wells, treatment plants and power systems needed to maintain supplies. Scarcity, unequal access and resource disputes acted as triggers in 28 percent of incidents. Water was categorised as a weapon in two percent, including cases involving the cutting of supplies, contamination, flooding or control of access.
The most exposed places
In Gaza, 1.9 million of 2.1 million people remain displaced, while about 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to UNICEF. Up to 70 percent of people cannot collect the minimum six litres of water per person per day for drinking and cooking, and 90 percent of households face moderate-to-high water insecurity. MSF reported that water prices have risen by up to 500 percent. In the occupied West Bank, attacks and demolitions have damaged or destroyed Palestinian water infrastructure; repeated raids on the Ein Samiya wells east of Ramallah have cut supplies to about 100,000 people.
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War damage and stressed systems
In Sudan, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has displaced about 12 million people since April 2023 and created a humanitarian crisis affecting more than 30 million. A Geneva Academy report documented attacks on reservoirs, treatment plants and distribution networks, particularly in Darfur. The collapse of water and sanitation systems has contributed to cholera outbreaks and worsened food insecurity.
In Iran, US and Israeli air strikes since February 28 have further strained a system weakened by drought, below-average rainfall, depleted groundwater and agricultural demand. Reported damage to desalination plants and reservoirs in Qeshm Island and Hormozgan province disrupted supplies to tens of thousands of people. Some reservoirs were up to 92 percent depleted, while water levels in reservoirs serving Mashhad fell below three percent. Damage to electricity networks and roads has also hindered repairs.
Why infrastructure matters beyond the battlefield
The war involving Iran has highlighted the Gulf’s dependence on desalination. Desalination provides about 90 percent of drinking water in Kuwait, 86 percent in Oman, 70 percent in Saudi Arabia, more than 90 percent in Bahrain and 99 percent in Qatar. Plants in Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and Iran were damaged during the war, although the reported effect on water supplies was largely limited.
Ukraine’s water crisis has also worsened as war damages water and energy infrastructure. UNICEF says 4.3 million people received safe-water assistance last year, while 12.7 million need humanitarian support. Attacks have reduced electricity generation by 70 percent, disrupting water and heating. In Kherson, strikes this month cut supplies to entire neighbourhoods; the June 2023 Kakhovka Dam disaster affected more than 100,000 people, and about 10 million people now lack reliable access to safe water.
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