In Iraq’s summer, residents of Kurdistan’s Irbil ache for water

IRBIL, Iraq: The taps have run dry, and the wells are almost empty. In the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, 80-year-old Babir hasn’t bathed in weeks and impatiently waits for trucked-in water deliveries. “There is nothing worse than not having water,” said Babir, who gave only his first name, in his modest house in Irbil’s Darto suburb. As in several other densely populated areas of Irbil and its suburbs, Babir and his neighbors rely on groundwater as their primary water source.