livestock

Iraqi farmer Umm Ali has watched her poultry die as salinity levels in the country’s south have reached record highs, rendering already scarce water unfit for human consumption and killing livestock.

“We used to drink, wash and cook with water from the river, but now it’s hurting us,” said Umm Ali, 40, who lives in the once watery Al-Mashab marshes of southern Iraq’s Basra province.

This season alone, she said, brackish water has killed dozens of her ducks and 15 chickens.

“I cried and grieved, I felt as if all my hard work had been wasted,” said the widowed mother of three.

Iraq, a country heavily affected by climate change, has been ravaged for years by drought and low rainfall.

Declining freshwater flows have increased salt and pollution levels, particularly in the south, where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converge before spilling into the Gulf.

“We haven’t seen such high levels of salinity in 89 years,” Iraq’s Ministry of Water Resources spokesman, Khaled Shamal, said.

Last month, salinity levels recorded in the central Basra province soared to almost 29,000 parts per million compared with 2,600ppm last year, according to a Water Ministry report.

Freshwater should contain less than 1,000ppm of dissolved salts, while ocean water salinity levels are about 35,000ppm, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The Tigris and the Euphrates converge at Basra’s Shatt al-Arab waterway “laden with pollutants accumulated along their course”, said Hasan al-Khateeb, an expert from Iraq’s University of Kufa.

In recent weeks, the Euphrates has seen its lowest water levels in decades, and Iraq’s artificial lake reserves are at their lowest in recent history.

Khateeb warned that the Shatt al-Arab’s water levels had plummeted and it was failing to hold back the seawater from the Gulf.

Farmer Zulaykha Hashem, 60, said the water in the area had become very brackish this year, adding that she must wait for the situation to improve to irrigate her crop of pomegranate trees, figs and berries.

According to the United Nations, almost a quarter of women in Basra and nearby provinces work in agriculture.

“We cannot even leave. Where would we go?” Hashem said, in a country where farmers facing drought and rising salinity often find themselves trapped in a cycle of water crisis.

The UN’s International Organization for Migration, which documents climate-induced displacement in Iraq, has warned that increased water salinity is destroying palm groves, citrus trees and other crops.

As of October last year, some 170,000 people had been displaced in central and southern Iraq due to climate-related factors, according to the agency.

Water scarcity pushed Maryam Salman, who is in her 30s, to leave nearby Missan province for Basra several years ago, hoping her buffalo could enjoy the Shatt al-Arab.

Rising salinity is not the only problem now, said Salman, a mother of three children.

“Water is not available … neither summer nor winter,” she said.

The Tigris and the Euphrates originate in Turkiye, and Iraqi authorities have repeatedly blamed dams across the border for significantly reducing their flows.

Iraq, a country with inefficient water management systems after decades of war and neglect, receives less than 35 percent of its allocated share of water from the two rivers, according to authorities.

Khateeb from the University of Kufa said, in addition to claiming its share of the rivers, Iraq must pursue desalination projects in the Shatt al-Arab.

In July, the government announced a desalination project in Basra with a capacity of 1 million cubic metres per day.

Local residents said the brackish water is also impacting fish stocks.

Hamdiyah Mehdi said her husband, who is a fisherman, returns home empty-handed more frequently.

She blamed the Shatt al-Arab’s “murky and salty water” for his short temper after long days without a catch, and for her children’s persistent rash.

“It has been tough,” said Mehdi, 52, noting the emotional toll on the family as well as on their health and livelihood.

“We take our frustrations out on each other.”

June 30 (UPI) — Imports of livestock from Mexico will resume in phases starting next week after a ban in May at ports of entry because of fear of the spread of New World screwworm, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday.

Ports of entry will allow certain cattle, horses and bison to go into Arizona, New Mexico and Texas after they were banned on May 11, the agency said in a news release.

The screwworm has been eradicated from the United States for decades. But it has been detected in Mexico as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, about 700 miles away from the U.S. border.

When NWS maggots burrow into the flesh of a living animal, they cause serious and often deadly damage to the animal, USDA said. Mature screwworm larvae can grow up to two-thirds of an inch.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service experts and their counterparts in Mexico worked to increase New World Screwworm surveillance, detection and eradication.

A phased reopening of the southern ports will start Monday in Douglas, Ariz., based on the lowest risk because of the geography of Sonora and an effective collaboration between APHIS and Sonora.

The other openings are set for July 14 in Columbus, N.M.; July 21 in Santa Teresa, N.M.; Aug. 18 in Del Rio, Texas; and Sept. 15 in Laredo, Texas.

In the past eight weeks, there hasn’t been a notable increase in reported NWS cases in Mexico or any northward movement, the agency said.

USDA has been conducting sterile NWS fly dispersal seven days each week, including the dispersal of more than 100 million flies each week.

Five teams of APHIS staff were sent to observe and gain a deeper understanding of Mexico’s NWS response.

“At USDA we are focused on fighting the New World Screwworm’s advancement in Mexico,” USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins said. “We have made good progress with our counterparts in Mexico to increase vital pest surveillance efforts and have boosted sterile fly dispersal efforts. These quick actions by the Trump Administration have improved the conditions to allow the phased reopening of select ports on the Southern Border to livestock trade.

“We are continuing our posture of increased vigilance and will not rest until we are sure this devastating pest will not harm American ranchers.”

On June 18, she met with cattle fever tick riders along the Rio Grande River. If the NWS advances northward into the United States, these tick riders “will play a crucial role in spotting and combating this pest,” an agency news release said.

USDSA is building a fly-production center at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, that could boost domestic sterile fly production by up to 300 million flies per week. Another one is planned at Moore Air Base, which alo could boost domestic sterile fly production by up to 300 million flies per week.

This week, Mexico will begin renovation of its sterile fruit fly facility in Metapa with completion by July 2026. The changes will allow for production of between 60 and 100 million sterile NWS flies each week.

The goal is produce an estimated 400 to 500 million flies each week to re-establish the NWS barrier at the Darien Gap, which is the border between Panama and Colombia.

Only cattle and bison, born and raised in Sonora or Chihuahua, in Mexico, or are treated according to cattle and bison NWS protocol when entering the U.S. will be eligible for import.

Equines may import from anywhere in Mexico though there is a seven-day quarantine at the port of entry.

USDA plans to remove any federal regulatory hurdles for sufficient treatments and work with state officials on emergency management plans in states.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association back the agency’s efforts.