U.S. Army Engineers Complete Mission

Iraqi Villages Benefit from Army Engineers' Mission
By Lana Aziz

Gulf Region North,

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Iraq

ERBIL PROVINCE, Iraq, April 24, 2007 — More than 26,000 residents in 13 villages receive potable water now due to 13 water well projects recently completed as part of the Iraq Reconstruction Program.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began the well project initiative last year and completed it last month. These 13 villages in Northern Iraq did not have flowing water.

Now, another source of water has been found and tapped in this area.

Each one of these 13 projects consisted of construction of deep water wells; supply of generators and submersible pumps; constructing a concrete and steel water tank; supplying and installing the water pipe line; construction of water taps; and expansion of the distribution system.

“Kurdistan is suffering from a shortage of clean water and lack of water sources and water pipe,” said Younis Talib, an Iraqi electrical engineer employed in the USACE Gulf Region North’s Erbil Resident Office. Talib was responsible for quality assurance and quality control on the project.

“This project is one of many that are essential to solve water problems in the Erbil Province; designed to stabilize the water source in 13 villages.”

The people in some of these villages did not have enough water, and some were depending on spring sources for water. Others relied on water delivery by trucks, or personally carrying water containers in their cars for many miles, according to Talib.

Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Erbil, said, “The water that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [made possible] to Bnberzi Gchka has allowed many village people to move back to their village.

I am grateful for all other projects which are done and which are under construction by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that positively impacted the Kurdish people.”

Maj. Jennifer Munro, deputy area engineer in the Gulf Region North district Mosul Area office, added, “This is an exciting program that has provided water to 26,000 people. It revitalized communities that had stagnated when families were forced to leave their homes during Saddam's era. [Now] these villages are growing and thriving.”

Years of a neglected infrastructure, violence, and sabotage created a shortage of potable water in Iraq—a country of some 30 million citizens. But, since the time of sovereignty in 2004, the Iraq Reconstruction Program has effected improvements that bring 120 million gallons of treated water daily to an estimated 2.4 million Iraqi citizens.

Estimates show that, nationwide, some 8.4 million Iraqis will benefit from 300 million gallons of treated water daily when all of the original funded water projects are completed.

Photo: Children in Northern Iraq in the Erbil Province play with a water hose, thanks to local water well and pump station projects made possible through the Iraq Reconstruction Program, April 22, 2007. U.S. Army photo

Officials Visit African Nations, Discuss New Command With Leaders.aspx
Posted: 25 Apr 2007 04:05 AM CDT
WASHINGTON, April 24, 2007 – Defense Department officials recently met with leaders in six African countries and had “fruitful” discussions about U.S. Africa Command, the new unified combatant command the department is establishing, a senior department official told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday.