AzraqJordan’s Azraq oasis has dried to cracked earth.

Jordan is among the world’s most water-poor nations, straining farms and refugees alike.

The government drew down Azraq’s shallow aquifer to supply Amman, while refugee inflows from Iraq and Syria added further strain.

“The north gets only six hours of water weekly,” said Christian Klassert, a Stanford researcher.

The government has funded no plan to close the 500-million-cubic-meter deficit, so farmers keep draining the aquifer further.

How each outlet framed it
New Lines Magazine leans critical
uses personal testimony—residents' memories of swimming/drinking from the oasis—to frame Azraq's drying as intimate loss, not technical data

Sources: New Lines Magazine