U.S. struggles to restore drinking water to Iraqis

[Barrett808]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

U.S. struggles to restore drinking water to Iraqis
By Bobby Caina Calvan

AL-SADIYAH, Iraq -- The water tankers arrive twice a week in this parched village surrounded by fallow fields stretching into the horizon. The town's wells still pump out a flow, but few villagers dare drink from it unless in desperation.

At the gate of Kayria Fayhan's home, 250 gallons of the trucked-in cargo fill a metal tank for cooking and drinking, sometimes for washing up if itching from the groundwater becomes unbearable.

Even the "clean" water from the tanker is a gamble on some weeks. "They say the water is clean, but sometimes the water is green," Fayhan said. "Sometimes, there's rust floating in it."

Despite the fact that Iraq and U.S. officials have made water projects among their top priorities, the percentage of Iraqis without access to decent water supplies has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent since the start of the U.S.-led war, according to an analysis by Oxfam International last summer. The portion of Iraqis lacking decent sanitation was even worse -- 80 percent.

Now, though, some U.S. officials think they're about to make progress. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, using more than $1 billion in reconstruction funds, is building massive water treatment plants in urban areas, including one in the slums of Baghdad's Sadr City.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/21753.html

[Dr.Phool]

1. Nothing against Iraqi's getting drinking water, but,

I think I'd keep my eye on Atlanta first.

[BRLIB]

2. At least their expectations are not extravagant.

"We can live without electricity, but we cannot live without water," said Fayhan, the woman from al-Sadiyah.

[Acadia Blue]

4. I like your logo...I am in La. too...They wrecked Iraq and they can't

do anything right but funnel our tax dollars to their already rich private contractors who just steal it and don't do the work
We are just a bananna republic now.

[KansDem]

3. They must be getting powerful thirsty with all that dancing in the streets.

And the flowers they're throwing at US troops need water too!

edited to add :sarcasm: for those who need to see it...

[Heywood J]

5. So they went from a close-to-Western living standard

before Gulf War I, then ended up living in the kind of squalor seen in Christian charity commercials?

Mission Accomplished.

[HuffleClaw]

6. erm, the story conveniently forgets WHO is responsible for this

pretty sad. i wonder how much of the BILLION dollars they mention actually went towards building those water treatment plants?

[flashl]

7. Crosspost from similar story

Giant U.S. embassy rising in Baghdad

April 2006

THE SITE HAS 21 STRUCTURES

With buildings dedicated to security, vehicle maintenance and facilities management, storage, utilities, and water and wastewater treatment

Only one major U.S. building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.

The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Construction materials have been stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads.

"We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget," said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.

The same cannot be said for major projects serving Iraqis outside the Green Zone, the Senate report said. Many — including health clinics, water-treatment facilities and electrical plants — have had to be scaled back or in some cases eliminated because of the rising costs of securing worksites and workers.

[ohio2007]

8. Baghdad’s Weary Start to Exhale as Security Improves (NYTimes)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/world/middleeast/20surge.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Not sure if the river is any safer to drink from but the NYTimes seems to point out the security is better along the shores.