Years of war, instability, weak governance, and public policy failures have left 15.4 million Yemenis without access to clean water and 17.4 million without adequate sanitation and hygiene, according to a report by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies and the Arab Reform Initiative.
The situation is creating conditions for preventable public health crises, the report said.
Access to water in one of the world’s most water-scarce countries has become even more critical, with the region embroiled in a new war in which critical infrastructure such as desalination plants is being targeted, according to the report.
Women, marginalized groups, rural communities, and people displaced by the conflict are the most affected by water inequality in Yemen. While they bear the burden of the crisis, influential individuals and businesses have been allowed to exploit a lack of governance to deplete the country’s finite resources, the report said.
“The findings suggest that water injustice in Yemen is not only about scarcity but also about power, regulation failure, and unequal distribution,” it said. “Marginalized populations – including women, displaced communities, small farmers, and internally displaced people (IDPs) – bear disproportionate burdens in access, cost, and quality of water. Conversely, influential actors and commercial interests often benefit from weak enforcement, unsanctioned drilling, and the monopolization of water sources.”
Heavy metals, oil pollute water sources
Unable to afford the cost of water from tankers, which do not always contain safe drinking water, many are forced to consume water from wadis, which in many cases include pollutants such as oil and heavy metals from nearby processing facilities.
This issue was especially severe in the areas of Al-Aliyah and Sah, meaning that it persists in both Houthi- and government-controlled areas of Yemen, the report said.
Until the 1970s, water resources were used fairly sustainably across Yemen. But new public policy that was introduced encouraged ground extraction, which led to aquifer depletion due to a lack of oversight.
Although legislation started to address this issue in the 1990s and early 2000s, lack of oversight meant changes were limited, the report said.
Already damaged by public policy failings, the issue was exacerbated by the outbreak of the 2014 civil war, during which 40% of the country’s water infrastructure was damaged.
Yemen’s instability prompted several international donors and organizations to withdraw, leaving local organizations to fill the gaps despite often lacking the expertise or resources to do so effectively. As a result, many were discredited by public officials.
As of 2024, 81 national NGOs were working on water-related issues in Yemen, along with tribal and religious leaders. Almost three-quarters of the organizations were formed from 2012-2025, which coincided with the decline in formal state institutions, following the 2011 popular uprising, the report said.