Baghdad site offers some water relief

Baghdad site offers some water relief
By Joseph Giordono, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, August 7, 2008

American and Iraqi officials are continuing efforts to get drinking water to Baghdad neighborhoods as the summer swelter worsens problems faced by residents in the capital.

A water distribution site has opened at a joint security station in eastern Baghdad with hopes that it will provide purified water to some 500,000 residents, according to U.S. military officials. The new site — in the 9 Nissan district — is part of an effort to address problems that have plagued Baghdad and led to outbreaks of disease.

At least one person has died of cholera in Baghdad since last summer, with another dozen deaths reported throughout the country.

According to the United Nations, 67 percent of Iraqis don’t have access to piped drinking water and 75 percent have no access to a working sewage system. U.N. officials blame the lack of access to clean water on the continuing security situation, aging infrastructure and corruption.

A July 2007 report from Oxfam, the international relief agency, said 70 percent of Iraqis did not have adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003.


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