The entire country is affected by water shortages. Because diesel fuel is in short supply, many water pumps are not operating, and using trucks to transport water is becoming so expensive that safe drinking water could soon be unaffordable for most Yemenis. The price of water more than doubled during the month of August in areas affected by the conflict. In the city of Dahyan, which is probably one of the worst affected areas, the ICRC is trying to ease the situation by providing diesel.

A special problem facing Yemen is that its population is scattered throughout the country, which makes it difficult to supply everyone on a regular basis.

Both Dahyan and Sa’ada have been hard hit by the conflict, but in different ways.

In Dahyan, the local network was partially destroyed. The ICRC is reinforcing and elevating a 200,000-litre reservoir which supplies the entire city.

Sa’ada hosted an estimated 50,000 displaced people at the peak of the conflict. This placed additional strain on the city's already stretched capacities, and the water supply was cut when fighting damaged the generator used to power the pumps. ICRC engineers restored the supply by repairing the generator and providing new pumps. Working together with the Yemen Red Crescent Society, the ICRC has established six camps for displaced people in Sa’ada. These camps now host approximately 8,700 people, and the ICRC provides 20 litres of drinking water per person per day. It has also constructed 400 latrines to ensure a healthy and hygienic environment in the camps.

The lack of water is a chronic problem in Yemen. It has been aggravated by the conflict in the north and by the fact that the water table is falling by four to six metres a year.

Until the 1970s, underground resources were not used. Traditional ways of capturing rainfall and managing other water supplies enabled Yemen to live in balance with its natural resources. But then people started drilling boreholes. There are 4,000 boreholes in the Governorate of Sa’ada alone, many of them very deep. As a result, rains are not replenishing the water table as quickly as water is being withdrawn from it. The extraction of groundwater has thus become unsustainable.

In some villages, people are selling their farms and leaving because water supplies are drying up. And people who fled their villages during the conflict simply aren’t going back. They are abandoning their homes and land because there is not enough water.

The district of Maran, where rainwater is collected in man-made reservoirs called birkets, was particularly affected by the scanty rains between May and July. Many birkets were damaged in the fighting, and the ICRC is repairing some of them now.

The water that comes from deep boreholes is very clean. For people in places that rely on surface water supplies, the ICRC provides filters – colloidal silver filters, produced in Yemen – that not only purify the water but also help to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases. In Maran, filters provided by the ICRC in 2005 are still being used!

People affected by conflict need clean water. When clean water is unavailable, there is a risk of water-borne disease.

In the meantime, there is a need to continue to restore and refurbish water infrastructure destroyed or rendered ineffective by the conflict. Not only do displaced people in the camps need water on a daily basis now, but they will only be able to return to their own areas if there is a regular supply of safe water.

Communities should seize the opportunity provided by the current situation of relative peace to consider adopting environmentally sustainable solutions. Water production from fossil water reserves is not sustainable. Yemen relies heavily on agriculture as a means of livelihood. Careful use of water can help to sustain that, and add to the long-term prosperity of the people.