Reported attacks that damaged or destroyed water and sanitation systems in conflict rose threefold between 2021 and 2025, according to a UNICEF report released on 5 November 2026. Water Under Fire Volume 4 documents attacks affecting water, sanitation and hygiene systems, the workers who run them and the people who depend on them across 23 countries and territories between January 2021 and June 2026.

The report describes seven types of attacks, from strikes on treatment plants, pipelines and wells to contamination of water sources and restrictions on spare parts and treatment chemicals. It cites Sudan, where only one of Khartoum State's 13 water treatment plants was still functioning by March 2024, and Burkina Faso, where more than 145 water points were destroyed between 2020 and 2025, cutting off access for around 830,000 people. It also describes how water can be cut off even when pipes and pumps remain intact, citing energy infrastructure damage in Ukraine and a drone attack on a gas field in Iraq in November 2025.

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said repairs cannot substitute for protection of these facilities under international humanitarian law. The report notes that in countries with a coordinated humanitarian WASH response, 137.9 million people need assistance and only 26 per cent of the funding required for 2026 has been received. UNICEF calls on parties to conflict, Member States, donors and humanitarian and development actors to protect WASH systems and workers, improve data collection on attacks and invest in conflict-resilient approaches.