westbank
In a Drying Land, a Constant Struggle for Water

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEFANO SERRA

Story by Sarah Haughn

Circle of Blue Reports

Perched between the sea and the desert, Israel and Palestine are facing more than five years of drought-like conditions. The summer of 2008 was particularly harsh, as drought engulfed much of the Middle East in one of the driest years on record.

Italian photographer Stefano Serra spent October of that year documenting the drought. Traveling through the West Bank, he photographed its effects on the region and its people.

script by Sarah Haughn/photographs by Stefano Serra

Gallery

A dry field.
Deir Ghazala village, a filling point.
At Silat al Harithya village, an empty cistern.
Portrait of a farmer, at Umm Lasafa village.
Water is transported from a well near Hebron.
A well near Hebron, in Umm Lasafa village near Yatta.
A family pays for emergency water from a tanker.
Portrait of a villager near Al Jiftlik village, in the Jordan Valley.
Water tankers are vital to unconnected villages.
A family is forced to use brackish water in the Jordan Valley.
Distant hills and desert in the West Bank.
A farmer near Jenin.
With no nearby sources for water, a farmer waits for a water tanker.
Children in a village school near Nablus.
A man prays near an emergency water tanker at a filling point.
2008 was one of the driest summers on record in the West Bank.
A village with no permanent water supply, near Yatta.
An ancient Roman rainfall reservoir.
Villagers near Hebron.
In a village with no central water supply, a boy bathes.

Production by C.T. Pope, narrated by J. Carl Ganter. Find all of Serra’s work at his website. Italian-English translation provided by Donna Hart; translation voiced by C.T. Pope. Additional support for this article was provided by Brian Colby. For any additional information please contact circleofblue.org/contact. All photographs copyright Stefano Serra/Circle of Blue.

Circle of Blue’s east coast correspondent based in New York. He specializes on water conflict and the water-food-energy nexus. He previously worked as a political risk analyst covering equatorial Africa’s energy sector, and sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa. Contact: Cody.Pope@circleofblue.org