The global water crisis in 13 photographs

Mustafah Abdulaziz’s images show how communities in Nigeria, India, Pakistan, China and Brazil are responding to the clean water crisis

• Water Stories, produced in collaboration with WaterAid, WWF, Earthwatch and the HSBC Water Programme, is showing at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, until 5 September and at South Bank, Brisbane, from 15 September 2017

Photographs by Mustafah Abdulaziz

Tue 22 Mar 2016 04.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 11.39 EST

  • Three Gorges dam, China

    Hydropower projects have had a huge impacts on the Yangtze river. The Three Gorges dam, which stands 185m high and 3,035m wide, was designed to control floods, generate power and aid navigation, but has upset the natural flow of the river. Work is ongoing with the operators of the dam to ensure enough water is being released at key moments, thereby restoring the natural pulse of the river and supporting the needs of wildlife downstream.

  • Talib Lashari, Pakistan

    Fishermen prepare their nets in anticipation of the tide and their turn to take one of the shared boats out to sea, searching further and further from the coast to catch fish.

  • Benue river, Nigeria

    During the Harmattan (a relatively cold season characterised by dry winds and clouds of dust) the Benue river, a major tributary of the Niger river, becomes almost completely dry.

  • Rakhi Mandi slum, Kanpur, India

    Raju, 45, lost his daughter to an illness doctors attributed to drinking unsafe water. ‘She fell ill during the night and I took her to the doctor in the morning but she died,’ he says. ‘With access to clean water and sanitation we will be able to move a little bit ahead in life.’ More than 140,000 children die every year from diarrhoea in India, often caused by a lack of clean water for proper handwashing. A lack of toilets further exacerbates the problem, as faeces on the ground contributes to the contamination of water resources and spreads disease.

  • Sahib Lashari, Thatta, Pakistan

    A family without a toilet or water facilities cares for four-month-old Shahbaz, who is suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting. In Pakistan, more than 40,000 children die every year from diarrhoea caused by unsafe water and a lack of basic hygiene and toilets. Worldwide, diarrhoea is the second biggest killer of children under five years old.

  • Shrimp fishing, Lake Hong, China

    In pursuit of high outputs and economic benefits, aquafarming in China has increased rapidly over the past few decades. This has resulted in a number of environmental and food security problems. With the support of local partners, WWF is working with governments, scientists and communities to advocate for responsible fisheries and changes to fish farming models. Since 2002, the organisation has empowered 144,000 people to adopt more sustainable fishing and farming methods to reduce pollution and improve food security and livelihoods.

  • Ponte Baixa stream, São Paulo, Brazil

    As the amount of available water declines, understanding the human impact on water quality becomes ever more important. Lack of infrastructure and poor domestic wastewater treatment is common in urban areas in Brazil, which makes São Paulo’s water resources a risk for both ecological balance and human health. Historically, this risk has not been addressed by local people.

  • Bewatoo, Pakistan

    Women pull water from a well in the Thar desert, where temperatures hover between 48°C and 50°C on summer days. With an extremely low water table and continuing drought, sometimes water must be hauled from depths of 200ft. ‘Women fall unconscious on their way to these dug wells,’ says Marvi Bheel, a resident of Bewatoo. The journey can take up to three hours.

  • Car shipping, Yichang, China

    The Yangtze is an essential waterway for businesses to transport goods, car ferries and shipping containers use it every day. Such businesses are the driving force behind China’s rapidly expanding industry and economic boom, but pollution from ships is partly to blame for the river’s declining health and for harming endangered species. Work is ongoing with local and multinational companies to reduce pollution throughout the supply chain, including transportation.

  • Carandiru river, São Paulo, Brazil

    FreshWater Watch trains people to become citizen scientists, testing local waters for contaminants such as nitrates and phosphates. The presence of these pollutants has increased significantly over the last 100 years and can lead to oxygen depletion, fish deaths, and an overall decline in biodiversity. FreshWater watcher Thais Azevedo says: ‘In São Paulo, people have lost their connection to the rivers and streams. A long time ago, they were a place where people wanted to be. Nowadays, people feel ashamed of the river and avoid these polluted places.’

  • Leather tannery fields, Kanpur, India

    The acids, dyes, chromium compounds and salts used to treat animal hides are so toxic that in 2013 the government temporarily closed the Kanpur’s 400 tanneries. For years, chemical wastewater has passed into run-off streams, which meet with other open water sources before flowing into the River Ganges. Government regulation now requires all tanneries to be fitted with chrome recovery plants to remove the most toxic of pollutants from the wastewater, but there is no research on how effective this approach is.

  • Sewage works, Kanpur, India

    A worker clears a filter at a sewage plant. As part of the government’s Last Mile Projects initiative to clean up the Ganges, all major cities in Uttar Pradesh will receive new sewage treatment plants. It is estimated that the results will not be visible for another two years.

  • The waterpump in Osukputu, Benue, Nigeria

    Women and children gather at a handpump which serves the community of 800 people with clean, safe water. Improving access to safe water and sanitation leads to healthier families and stronger livelihoods.
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