A child cries as a woman fills pans of water from a public water hose on open ground in Najaf, Iraq, in 2006. (Alla al-Marjani/Associated Press)

Recent History of Water in Iraq

In the recent past, Iraq had over 140 drinking water and treatment facilities in operation. Air attacks, in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War destroyed many of these water treatment plants. At the same time, UN imposed sanctions disallowed trade between Iraq and other countries. This made import of needed chemicals and supplies for upkeep of the water treatment facilities difficult.

By 2003, Iraq's 140 major water treatment facilities were operating at about 35 percent of their design capacity. In March 2003, the US government launched a direct-attack on Iraq. This continued war, for over five-years now, has rendered useless the already deteriorating water infrastructure systems across the country.

Years of political upheaval, sanctions against Iraq, consistent mortar attacks, and unstable-transitional governing bodies have made maintenance of the water treatment systems almost impossible.

"Over 600 workers from the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works have been killed attempting to repair these networks since 2005"

- UNICEF

Unsafe water is also taking its toll. Iraq saw the worst outbreak of Cholera in recorded history in 2007.

A man in a village in southern Iraq demonstrates how Bechtel left his village without access to clean water. Photo courtesy the BanglaPraxis blog.

While some measures are being taken to ensure water availability in Iraq...

UNICEF provides water on tanker trucks and distributes home-hygiene kits to civilians.
UNESCO has assessed water resources available in Iraq and evaluated possible management plans.
USAID has refurbished 10 water treatment plants and installed 70 small water treatment systems in rural communities.
The transitional Iraqi Government has been developing water policy.
The Iraq Water Project (Veterans for Peace in conjunction with LIFE) has sent small, sterilized water units for hospitals and schools and has been working to rebuild six water treatment plants in Iraq.

...really, though, these actions are not yet enough.

For it is true, if water conditions are to improve in this country, then current upheaval, war, and fighting in Iraq must come to an end.

"We have photos of the units we sent to several hospitals, including the city of Hit where there has been a recent outbreak of cholera, and we got a dandy little video of our Sterilight in action at al Mansour children’s hospital in Baghdad." - The Iraq Water Project