In August 2018, The National reported that Assad Al Edani, governor of Iraq's Basra province, wanted to oblige major oil companies to build desalination and treatment plants for residents. Firms wishing to keep operating there would have to install such a facility, as agreed with Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, director of the Basra Oil Company. The governor said local hospitals had logged over 1,500 water-related illnesses in one week. Water minister Hasan Al Janabi pledged action on the growing salt content of the Shatt Al Arab river.
The report showed how a drinking water crisis in an oil region raised the question of whether producers should create desalination capacity for residents alongside their core business.
Source: The National