In Besieged Taiz, Drinking Water Has Reached Crisis Levels
Drinking water has been scarce for more than a decade in Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, but the problem has reached crisis levels in recent weeks as Iran-backed Houthi rebels besiege the city in their escalating conflict with government forces. Humanitarian groups say the needs of Taiz's more than 1 million residents are now barely being met: access to wells is limited, desalination plants are low on fuel, and water delivery trucks are largely prevented from entering the city.
For Hadil al-Shahid and her two young children, the rationing is concrete. Before the siege, they used about 10 liters of bottled water a day for drinking and cooking; now they make that amount last about four days.
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The four-day stretch on 10 liters is the detail that makes the siege legible. That leaves almost no room for a bad week.
A single household's ration can also make the crisis look like a problem of discipline. Humanitarian groups describe something bigger: more than a million residents whose needs are barely being met.