Global Water Conflicts Surge to Record Highs as World Water Week Focuses on Security Threats in 2026

As the World Water Week conference begins on Sunday in Sweden’s capital, Stockholm, and online, the sharp rise in water-related conflicts in recent years takes center stage. Organised annually by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) under the theme “Water for People and Progress”, the event highlights growing global water-security challenges.

According to the Pacific Institute, a US-based nonprofit water think tank, 420 water-related conflicts were recorded in 2024, marking a record high and a 78 percent increase from the 235 conflicts recorded in 2022. This surge is largely driven by attacks on water infrastructure and disputes over access, particularly in regions affected by prolonged wars.

What are the causes of water-related conflicts?

For more than three decades, the Pacific Institute has tracked global water conflicts through its Water Conflict Chronology, classifying each incident by whether water served as a casualty, trigger, or weapon of war:

• Casualty: Water infrastructure is damaged or destroyed during conflict, either deliberately or as collateral damage. This includes dams, pipelines, wells, treatment plants, and power systems. In 2024, 55 percent of water-related conflicts were driven by casualty events.
• Trigger: Water scarcity, unequal access, or disputes over resources fuel violence among communities, farmers, animal herders, or armed groups, accounting for 28 percent of conflicts in 2024.
• Weapon: Water is deliberately manipulated to harm or pressure opponents by cutting supplies, contaminating sources, flooding areas, or controlling access, representing two percent of incidents in 2024.

Where are water-related conflicts the biggest threat in 2026?

Palestine

In Gaza, UNICEF reports that 1.9 million of the 2.1 million residents remain displaced, and about 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed by Israeli attacks. Up to 70 percent of people cannot collect the minimum six litres of water per person a day for drinking and cooking, and 90 percent of households faced moderate-to-high water insecurity. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, noted that water prices have risen by up to 500 percent, worsening diarrhoeal and skin diseases. In the occupied West Bank, settler attacks and Israeli demolitions have damaged Palestinian water infrastructure, including repeated raids on the Ein Samiya wells east of Ramallah.

Sudan

Since April 2023, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has displaced about 12 million people. A Geneva Academy report documented attacks on water reservoirs, treatment plants, and distribution networks in Darfur, where collapsing sanitation systems have fuelled cholera outbreaks and rising famine risks across Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile.

Iran

US and Israeli air strikes on Iran since February 28 have strained a water system already weakened by drought, below-average rainfall, and depleted groundwater. Attacks damaged desalination plants and reservoirs in Qeshm Island and Hormozgan province. In Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, reservoir water levels dropped below three percent.

Gulf region

The war on Iran exposed the vulnerability of critical water infrastructure in the Gulf, where countries rely heavily on large desalination plants. These plants supply about 90 percent of drinking water in Kuwait, 86 percent in Oman, 70 percent in Saudi Arabia, over 90 percent in Bahrain, and 99 percent in Qatar. Desalination plants were damaged in Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, and Iran during the conflict.

Ukraine

Ukraine’s water crisis has deepened due to the war with Russia. UNICEF states that 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. Strikes in Kherson cut supplies to entire neighbourhoods, while the Kakhovka Dam disaster in June 2023 affected over 100,000 people and about 10 million now lack reliable access to safe water.