Women and children arranging their jerrycans as they queue for water as incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to have led to ongoing water shortages in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. — Reuters
THE Trump administration’s decision to slash nearly all US foreign aid has left dozens of water and sanitation projects half-finished across the globe – creating hazards for the very people they were meant to help.
Reuters identified 21 unfinished projects in 16 countries after speaking to 17 sources familiar with the plans.
Many have not been previously reported.
With hundreds of millions of dollars cut since January, work has stopped midstream: shovels downed, holes half-dug, building supplies abandoned and unguarded.
Millions who were promised clean drinking water and reliable sanitation must now fend for themselves.
In Mali, water towers meant to serve schools and health clinics lie abandoned, according to two US officials.
In Nepal, work stopped on more than 100 drinking water systems, leaving plumbing supplies and 6,500 bags of cement piled in communities.
Nepal will fund completion itself, says water minister Pradeep Yadav.
In Lebanon, a scheme to supply cheap solar power to water utilities was scrapped, costing 70 jobs and forcing utilities to fall back on costly diesel.
In Kenya’s Taita Taveta County, half-finished irrigation canals have increased flood risk.
“I have no protection from the flooding that the canal will now cause,” says farmer Mary Kibachia, 74.
“The floods will definitely get worse.”
Community leaders say reducing the risk would cost US$2,000 – about twice the area’s average annual income.
Trump’s dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has also left food and medical aid rotting in warehouses.
Cuts could cause an additional 14 million deaths by 2030, according to research in The Lancet.
Supporters argue US funds should be kept at home and say USAID strayed from its mission by backing projects such as LGBT rights in Serbia.
US water projects had an annual budget of US$450mil – a fraction of the US$61bil in foreign aid in 2024.
Until Trump’s re-election, these schemes enjoyed bipartisan support; a 2014 law doubling funding passed Congress unanimously.
Advocates say US-built pumps, canals, toilets and other water infrastructure have transformed lives: reducing child deaths from waterborne disease, keeping girls in school and making young men less vulnerable to extremist recruitment.
“Do we want girls carrying water on their heads for their families? Or do you want them carrying school books?” asks John Oldfield, a consultant for water projects.
The US State Department, which has absorbed USAID, did not respond to questions about the halted projects.
Some funding has been restored for life-saving schemes, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said assistance will be more limited.
At least one project – a US$6bil desalination plant in Jordan – was revived after lobbying from King Abdullah.
Elsewhere, the impact is severe.
“This isn’t just the loss of aid – it’s the unravelling of progress, stability, and human dignity,” says Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, CEO of Mercy Corps, which partnered with USAID on water projects in Congo, Nigeria and Afghanistan for 1.7 million people.
The US is not alone in cutting back. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden have also scaled down aid, citing domestic needs.
The OECD predicts a further 9-17% drop in global official development assistance in 2025 after a 9% fall in 2024.
In eastern Congo, where fighting between Congolese forces and M23 rebels killed thousands earlier this year, disused USAID water kiosks are now playgrounds.
Evelyne Mbaswa, 38, says her 16-year-old son went to fetch water in June and never returned.
“When we send young girls, they are raped, young boys are kidnapped ... All this is because of the lack of water,” she says.
In Kenya, a five-year, US$100mil USAID scheme to supply drinking water and irrigation for 150,000 people was halted in January.
Only 15% of work was complete, according to contractor DAI Global LLC.
Trenches and deep holes were left open, posing dangers for children and livestock. Some US$100,000 worth of pipes, fencing and other materials remain exposed.
USAID signs at the sites make it clear who funded – and abandoned – the work.
That visibility could damage America’s reputation and feed extremist recruitment, warns a draft US embassy memo in Nairobi.
“The reputational risk of not finishing these projects could turn into a security risk,” the memo states.
Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked Somali group, has already carried out deadly attacks in Kenya, including the 2015 Garissa University massacre.
In Taita Taveta, workers had built brick walls along just 220m of a planned 3.1km irrigation canal when ordered to stop.
Without plaster, the walls are eroding.
“Without plaster, the walls will collapse in heavy rain, and the flow of water will lead to the destruction of farms,” says local leader Juma Kubo.
The community has asked Kenya’s government and donors for the 68 million shillings needed to finish.
In the meantime, they plan to sell the cement and steel cables left onsite to fund partial repairs.
“Funds are needed to at least finish the project to the degree we can with the materials we have, if not complete it fully,” says county irrigation officer Stephen Kiteto Mwagoti.
For Kibachia, who has battled floods for years, delays are costly.
Three months after work stopped, thigh-deep water inundated her mud hut. — Reuters
