Left photo: Bnwar AbdulRahman (in red cap) with volunteers outside Waterkeepers Iraq’s office at The Culture Factory—a former tobacco factory bombed in the 1991 Gulf War, now home to artists and activists. Right photo: EPIC Director Erik Gustafson with Waterkeepers Iraq’s Nabil Musa and Kurdish Iraqi designer Sabah Ahmad (in gray cap), who built a mobile wastewater unit funded in part by EPIC (Sulaymaniyah/2025)

Help us raise $50,000 in 30 days for Iraqi-led action to protect rivers, strengthen farms, and confront sewage pollution.

EPIC has launched Water for Iraq’s Future (#Water4Iraq) to help Iraqi partners turn evidence into action on river pollution, water scarcity, and untreated sewage. The campaign builds on EPIC’s research and long-standing partnerships with Iraqi environmental advocates working in their own communities.

links directly to EPIC’s GoFundMe campaign

Water is life.

In Iraq, the Tigris and Euphrates and the waterways connected to them sustain families, farms, food security, public health, wildlife, and the fragile conditions for peace.

But Iraq’s water resources face growing challenges. Pollution and untreated sewage threaten rivers and communities, while water scarcity is making it harder for farmers to sustain their land and livelihoods.

EPIC’s Iraqi partners are ready to act. Your gift supports three urgent priorities:

• Protecting Rivers — Waterkeepers Iraq will test water quality and document pollution along the Tanjero River in Sulaymaniyah, using the evidence to strengthen public awareness, government engagement, and river protection.
• Strengthening Farms — Humat Dijlah will work with farmers in Ninewa along the Tigris River to identify barriers to water-saving irrigation and advance practical solutions that conserve water and sustain rural livelihoods.

• Confronting Sewage Pollution — Bawsala Foundation will document untreated wastewater entering the Kufa River near the shrine city of Najaf and help communities engage public authorities around practical solutions for cleaner, safer water.

From local evidence to lasting change

Campaign funds support both this Iraqi-led fieldwork and EPIC’s research, coordination, mentoring, communications, and advocacy, helping turn local evidence into wider public awareness and action.

These projects are deliberately focused. By generating credible evidence, testing practical approaches, and strengthening local advocacy, they can demonstrate what well-targeted investments in capable Iraqi organizations can achieve — and help promising approaches attract greater support.

Building on work already underway

Water4Iraq builds on EPIC’s research into two of Iraq’s most pressing water challenges.

In 2025, freelance reporter and researcher Win Rodgers traveled across Iraq on EPIC’s behalf, visiting farms and interviewing farmers, researchers, and officials for Making Every Drop Count, our study of water-efficient irrigation.

EPIC also published Securing Iraq’s Water Future Through Wastewater Management Reform, examining how untreated sewage is contaminating Iraq’s rivers and identifying practical steps government can take to address the problem.

Water4Iraq takes the next step — helping Iraqi partners turn research and evidence into practical local action.

Why EPIC?

Since 1998, the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center has worked alongside Iraqi civil society to advance peace, human rights, accountable governance, environmental action, and climate resilience.

We help Iraqi partners move from community concerns to evidence, from evidence to practical recommendations, and from recommendations to effective advocacy and public engagement.

Our larger goal: cleaner rivers, healthier communities, and a stronger foundation for peace.

links directly to EPIC’s GoFundMe campaign

Water4Iraq is an official campaign of the Enabling Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC), an independent U.S. 501(c)(3) charitable organization. EIN: 52-2223500. GoFundMe is the campaign’s primary public giving hub, where supporters can donate, share the campaign, and follow our progress in real time.

Prefer another way to give? Considering a leadership gift?

You can also support Water4Iraq directly through EPIC by check, Zelle, online giving, donor-advised fund, QCD, bank transfer, and other methods. All gifts designated for Water4Iraq will count toward the campaign’s $50,000 goal. Our “More Information & Ways to Give” page includes additional giving options and the Water4Iraq Leadership Donor Brief.

You can also support Water4Iraq directly through EPIC by check, Zelle, online giving, donor-advised fund, QCD, bank transfer, and other methods. All gifts designated for Water4Iraq will count toward the campaign’s $50,000 goal. Our More Information & Ways to Give page includes additional giving options and the Water4Iraq Leadership Donor Brief.

Thank you for being part of Water4Iraq. Every gift, share, and introduction helps expand the reach of this life-sustaining, Iraqi-led work.

Donate and share this link:
https://gofundme.com/f/water4iraq

#Water4Iraq