Water infrastructure in conflict zones is vulnerable to deliberate kinetic strikes as well as the silent failure of maintenance and supply chains severed by war. When these systems collapse, the consequences cascade through public health and food security, exacerbating the vulnerabilities of regions already facing extreme climate stress. For example, recent attacks targeted desalination plants in Iran and Bahrain (1). In Ukraine and Gaza, the degradation of water and sanitation facilities routinely deprives millions of innocent civilians of safe drinking water, triggering resurgences of waterborne diseases and destabilizing hydrological basins (2, 3). International humanitarian law explicitly prohibits attacking objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, but enforcement remains elusive (4, 5).
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Safeguard water infrastructure amid conflict | Science
