A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter supporting 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division 'Highlanders' flies over a farm in Muthanna province. The Highlanders are deployed from Fort Bliss, Texas, to advise and assist Iraqi security forces in Muthanna province and collaborate with provincial reconstruction teams to fulfill requests for essential services from the Government of Iraq.

The Muthanna province in southern Iraq is a vast area, sparsely populated and dominated by wide expanses of desert. Life here remains much the same as it has for centuries. Bedouin tribes herd camels while subsistence farmers scratch out a living in the harsh landscape. The people of Muthanna are particularly hard hit by geography, living near the end of river flows obstructed further north by dams constructed under the regime of Saddam Hussein and never restored to their former glory. Access to clean water, reliable power and health care are in short supply.

Through cooperation between the provincial government, the U.S. State Department-led Provincial Reconstruction Team and Soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment, Task Force Pathfinder, the basic needs of Muthanna citizens are now slowly being met.

Task Force Pathfinder incorporates civilian experts, professional engineers and civil affairs units as it works hand-in-hand with the PRTs to develop projects and training programs to help the Iraqis deliver critical services to their people. In Muthanna, the focus has been providing essential services.

Over the past several months, the Pathfinders have sponsored more than 30 projects in Muthanna province through the Commander’s Emergency Response Program. More than half focused on providing water and power to impoverished villages.

“These programs serve two purposes. First, they reduce the number of waterborne diseases we are seeing among the children,” said Lt. Col. Michael Eastman, TF Pathfinder commander. “Second, by helping the elected Iraqi officials deliver basic needs to their people, we reduce the incentive of dissatisfied locals to oppose both American and Iraqi forces in the area.”

Sgt. 1st Class Kurt Hamilton, cannon crew member from New York assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, passes out candy to local children at a Muthanna water pipeline project site. Hamilton and Soldiers of Task Force Pathfinder assigned to 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division are deployed from Fort Bliss, Texas, to advise and assist Iraqi security forces in Muthanna province and collaborate with provincial reconstruction teams to fulfill requests for essential services from the Government of Iraq.

Reception by the people of Muthanna has been overwhelmingly positive. In areas where life was a daily struggle for existence, clean water is now available for both drinking and irrigating once dry fields.

“Getting out among the people has been a great experience,” said Sgt. Hugh Gunnerson, from Cannonsburg, Pa. “We can see the benefit of our mission in Iraq when people have something Americans sometimes take for granted, like clean water to drink.”

While this mission is different from what most of these artillerymen from Fort Bliss, Texas, expected to perform, they have adapted extremely well. Much remains to be done in Muthanna, but with this sort of close cooperation between Iraqis, PRTs and Soldiers of Task Force Pathfinder, progress is being made in southern Iraq.

DVIDS

Soldiers of the scout sniper team attached to Company A, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad unload a solar powered water purifier which was given to the village of Lutifiyah, Feb. 28. A ceremony was held by local sheiks, villagers, and Soldiers from 1-63 CAB for the installation of a coalition-funded, solar- powered water filter to bring clean potable water to people in the Mahmudiyah Qada.

Nadhel, an Iraqi engineer, places a tube into a water canal to bring water into a solar powered water purifier during a ceremony attended by local sheiks, villagers and Soldiers of the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division - Baghdad in Lutifiyah, Feb 28. The water purifier will bring clean potable water to nearly 200 people in the village which is part of the Mahmudiyah Qada.

LUTIFIYAH, Iraq – Local sheiks, villagers and Soldiers of the 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 63rd Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division held a ceremony, Feb. 28, for the installation of a coalition-funded, solar-powered water filter to purify the village’s water.

The $5,300 project was funded by the Commander’s Emergency Relief Program.

The water purifier was delivered and set up adjacent to a water canal on a farm and some of the local sheiks as well as villagers gathered near the canal to view a demonstration on how the purifier works.

“This is an important contribution that means a lot to the Iraqi people. We have worked with the coalition [forces] in the past, and I’m glad our relationship is continuing,” said Sheik Hamid Turkey, a local area tribal leader.

Local area leaders chose the location in Lutifiyah because the water purifier will be available for use by 150 to 200 people who will now have access to clean potable water. The local leaders also chose the sight because of security reasons. It has the direct oversight of Sons of Iraq checkpoints, so concerns of it being stolen are minimal.

The water purifier is cost efficient because it is charged by the sun, and allows the local Iraqi people to have clean water available to them, which they did not have in the past.

“I think it’s really great for the Soldiers of the scout platoon/sniper section to be able to give this water filter to a group of local nationals who do not enjoy the same privileges we have had growing up [in the United States]. I had not seen anything like this filter before. The system is really cool,” said Spc. Kevin Stroud, a Soldier of the scout platoon, and a native of Dallas, Texas.

Nadhel, an Iraqi engineer takes a drink of purified water from a canal in Lutifiyah, Feb. 28.

1-63 CAB has partnered with local sheiks in the villages of the Mahmudiyah Qada, which includes Lutifiyah, for the emplacement of six solar powered water purifiers in the past several months. The 1-63 CAB troops plan to place more water filters in the future in different areas of the Mahmudiyah Qada, and have other future projects planned for the Lutifiyah area as well.

“It is important to help the Iraqi people have sources of clean water. It is also beneficial for the relationship we’re trying to build, because it is a sign of trust to them,” said 1st Lt. Henry Brewster, scout platoon leader, Company A, 1-63 CAB and a native of Youngstown, Ohio.

DVIDS
Story by Jamie Vernon

Basra Province will soon see a dramatic increase in the availability of clean water. The $9.5 million water project will increase the Qurmat Ali water facility’s capacity from 4,000 to 16,000 cubic meters per hour.

Mahmood Lafta, Basra water directorate’s design team chief, says the facility’s production will be sufficient to meet the needs of most neighborhoods throughout Basra Province including: Az Zubair, Khor Az Zubair and Umm Qasr.

He noted that once complete, Qurmat Ali will lessen Basra’s dependence on the Sweetwater Canal pump station which is located 90 kilometers north of the city. Taking its water from the Shatt al Arab River, the water facility is located just nine kilometers north of Basra.

“Qurmat Ali will work as an alternative so if the Sweetwater Canal pump station is closed for maintenance or other reasons, the newly-expanded facility will be more than capable of providing fresh water to the people of Basra,” Engineer Lafta pointed out.

Apart from the renovation work, the project includes a new chlorine building and chlorination system, a 3,000-cubic-meter ground storage tank, a new steel intake structure, as well as two new 400-cubic-meter-per-hour water treatment units. The Iraqi crew is currently installing a new switch gear room, two five-megavolt amp transformers, and four new one-megavolt back-up generators.

“We are very satisfied with the construction quality and our engineers are getting more experience by working side-by-side with the contractor’s staff which will ensure a successful transition once the project is finished,” Engineer Lafta said.

“This is an important improvement for Basra’s 2.5 million residents who will now have two independent sources of water for their household needs,” Engineer Lafta concluded.

Providing contract over-watch for this project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Division is helping to jump start Iraq’s economy and to build a strong foundation for the country’s success by hiring locals to perform the work and purchasing materials for the project within the country. Since the project began in January 2008, about 70 local Iraqis were employed on the construction crew and the materials were purchased from businesses in the area.

MNF-I
By A. Al Bahrani
Gulf Region South district