U.S. Soldiers with the 606th Forward Support Company, 1-377th Field Artillery Regiment, 17th Fires Brigade, conduct civil reconnaissance of the Hartha Water Treatment Plant in Basrah, Aug. 19. Photo courtesy of 17th Fires Brigade.

Some citizens of Basrah lived without clean, running water for cooking and hygiene. Following a recent inspection of the Hartha Water Treatment Plant here, the 17th Fires Brigade aimed to change that.

The plant, located 12 miles north of Basrah, was working at 30 percent capacity and considered almost non-operational by the time the U.S. contracted the Farden Group to renovate the plant for $420,000.

“That’s a small amount of money considering the amount of water that they have gained from this facility,” said Maj. Peter D. Hesford, 1314 Civil Affairs Company, Civil Liaison Team, 17th Fires Brigade project manager.

Hesford said the funding for such projects comes from the Commanders’ Emergency Response Program (CERP), an allocation of funds granted to deployed U.S. military commanders to initiate short-duration projects designed to alleviate urgent humanitarian need.

Hesford said the Hartha project fits such a need.

“We’ve just increased their water production by 15 percent with this water treatment plant alone and this is just the first of more to come,” he said.

Producing more than 100 million liters of treated water daily, this is the second largest plant in Basrah province and services the entire region’s population of almost 2 million.

“U.S. forces in partnership with the Government of Iraq are committed to providing the people of Iraq with treated water,” Hesford said. “With the refurbishment of this plant, we’ve provided the citizens of Basrah with more than forty million liters of water. That’s approximately 12 additional liters of water for each person in the city of Basrah.”

The completion of this water treatment plant marks only the beginning of the purification process for Basrah province.

Hesford said there are currently three water treatment plant refurbishment projects underway in the southern region of Iraq. They’re slated to begin in six weeks, and include the regions of Bradia, Jubalia and Ribbat, with the construction of a new plant set to begin at Zubayr.

“The 17th Fires Brigade is poised to leave Iraq in the hands of the local and federal governance and we’re increasing our efforts in the area of mentorship, while taking a harder look at how we apply our CERP dollars,” he said.

Through partnership with the U.S. State Department Provincial Reconstruction Team and local Iraqi leadership, Hesford said the 17th FB’s objective is not only to appropriately apply CERP resources but ensure each project’s sustainability through coming generations long after the departure of U.S. forces.

“These projects serve as an example of our commitment to assist and advise and to leave Iraq secure, safe and prepared for future economic expansion,” he said.

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By Spc. Maurice Galloway, 17th Fires Brigade

Capt. Sara Woods, chief of Civil Affairs Team 31, unscrews a lid to check a water pump filter in a sunflower field near Mahmudiyah, Iraq, Aug. 9. Woods, of Janesville, Minn., is attached to Company B, 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Brigade Combat Team. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles

Capt. Sara Woods calls it “sweet water;” the clean, potable ground water that hides under the dusty farmland at a depth of about 20 meters. That sweet water is the key to helping rural Iraqis enjoy greater health and more productive livestock.

Woods is the chief of Civil Affairs Team 31, currently attached to the North Carolina National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, and her job is to help Iraqis help themselves by setting up wells and teaching them how to operate them.

The civil affairs team, and a platoon of infantrymen providing security, visited well sites near Mahmudiyah, here, Aug. 9, to check on their condition and level of use by local farm families.

“What [a well] does is provide everyone with clean drinking water, for people and animals; for an entire cluster of farm families,” said Woods, a native of Janesville, Minn. “From the well, all the families can come in and get good drinking water.”

Woods said the alternative to the well water is canal water, or water from wells that are too shallow.

“Right now most of them are pretty much drinking straight canal water. It’s dirty, it’s contaminated and it’s salty,” said Woods. “People get sick, the kids are sick and babies are born with birth defects; it’s absolutely terrible.”

This well in Mahmudiyah was built by the civil affairs team and an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team. When the Soldiers came to check on it, they found the well in good working order and utilized by about 15 families and cattle. The North Carolina National Guardsmen have plans to build more wells capable of providing water for dozens of families, according to Woods.

“The larger-scale concept that the 120th [Inf. Regt.] is looking at puts out 1,500 liters an hour and would service about 30 to 50 families,” said Woods. “It’s ideal for out in these rural areas where you’re not going to get a city network running to you.”

Beside the well, a milk cow and her calf stood under a shade tree. Woods pointed out that the cow and her calf looked much healthier since they started drinking clean water from the new well. Cows drinking the dirty water often have shrunken udders that do not produce much milk.

“She can’t even stand up straight she’s got so much milk in her udders and that comes from drinking good water and not that really nasty salty water,” said Woods. “That cow is going to produce phenomenal amounts of milk for the family.”

In order for the wells to work properly, they need to be deep enough to tap into clean water, said Woods. Filters clean remaining contaminants or salt from the water.

“That 20-meter aquifer we have to hit is ideal because it’s got the lowest salt content and the least amount of contaminants,” said Woods. “There are two other aquifers at 6 and 12 meters and they (Iraqis) stop there because they think it’s good, when all they’ve got to do is put in a little more elbow grease and hit that 20 meter aquifer.”

Something as simple as a new well helps the community and builds self-sufficiency in many different ways, according to Woods.

“You’re decreasing illnesses and the problems the kids and the families have from drinking polluted canal water,” said Woods. “And you are giving it to the milk cows, which means the farmers have more milk to take to the market to make products, and it builds the dairy industry up and it provides for the folks in the area.”

As the Soldiers of the 1st Bn., 120th Inf. Regt., continue to pursue the well project that provide clean drinking water, they can help Iraqi families extract better health and economic prosperity from the dry, dusty farmland.

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Story by Sgt. Jon Soles

Looking at the murky, muddy waters of the Tigris River, it seems hard to imagine swimming in the river, much less drinking its waters. But minutes after a broken valve was repaired at the Tuwaitha Water Treatment Plant, the treated river water gushed from a pump, as crystal clear and potable as bottled water.

The Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, celebrated bringing the water treatment back to full capacity, June 1, eight months after a broken valve at the plant’s lift station reduced the water flow.

The Tuwaitha Water Treatment Plant supplies an estimated 120,000 Iraqis in Maid’in area, south of Baghdad, with potable water. The lift station, which provides pressure to keep the reservoir full, had broken a valve that prevented the plant from producing enough clean water. The “Dragon” Soldiers of the 1st Bn., 82nd FA Regt. stepped in and got their hands dirty, offering mechanical expertise to help the Iraqis repair the valve and repair electrical pump switches.

Lt. Col. Eric Schwegler, commander of the 1st Bn., 82nd FA Regt., stood with representatives from the local municipal government, the national police and representatives from the Baghdad Ministry of Water when the moment of truth arrived to flip the switch that would turn on the repaired valve. Expectations were met when a torrent of crystal clear water poured out of the valve, sending a channel of water where the ground had been dry during the eight months that the lift station was not working.

“It feels great to see that cold, crystal water when all the other side of the plant is the murky Tigris River,” said Schwegler, a native of Ozark, Ala.

In an effort to show good faith in the project, Schwegler joined the Iraqis by dipping a plastic bottle into the water and then taking a drink before the water had been tested. Schwegler said the project demonstrated cooperation between different local and national agencies to help the Iraqis of Maid’in district.

“This is kind of historic because you have the Baghdad Ministry of Water coming down to Maid’in Quada, the Maid’in Quada Council, the Jisr Diyala Council and the Jisr Diyala Water Department, all focusing their efforts on getting this treatment plant going,” Schwegler said.

Schwegler added that the project, though funded by the coalition forces, was an achievement of the Iraqi people. Local Iraqi contractors and volunteers completed the work to help the water treatment plant function properly again.

“It is absolutely great to see all these agencies in the Government of Iraq coming together to focus on a critical problem and working among themselves to address this issue,” Schwegler said. “They saw a problem and formed a solution to meet the critical needs.”

Shakyh Qais Shater, a tribal leader in of Maid’in Quada, said he was pleased with the contributions of the 1st Bn., 82nd FA Regt. He said repair of the treatment plant was an urgent need, as Iraqis in the area were forced to retrieve water from a water tank truck instead of getting water in their home.

“I saw many women carrying the containers on their heads to get water. That was a shame,” said Shater. “We are very happy to find our friends like Lt. Col. Schwegler and his men to help our people.”

Schwegler and the delegation of local and national leaders climbed to the top of a reservoir between the pump station and the lift station to observe huge concrete basins that had been empty earlier. Officials from the Baghdad Ministry of Water took samples of the water for testing, to make sure the filters and water treatment equipment were properly purifying the water.

According to Schwegler, the water treatment plant functioning is another sign that the Iraqis are taking more responsibility for their country’s needs.

“The government of Iraq saw the potential to address a critical shortcoming and has stepped up as a responsible government to take care of its own people,” Schwegler said. “I think the note you take away is the needs of the people are being met by the Government of Iraq.”

In many meetings with local Iraqi leaders, potable water was a need constantly expressed to the Dragons of 1st Bn., 82nd FA Regt. Now, with the water flowing again, that need has been met thanks to the cooperation of American Soldiers and Iraqi leaders.

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Story by Jon Soles

Thanks to an Iraqi Commanders Emergency Response Program water filtration project, residents of Kalamat Village now have clean drinking water at the flick of a switch right in the heart of their village.

Previously, village residents had to travel eight kilometers on dusty dirt roads to fill plastic containers with drinking water in nearby Badra.

“We want to thank Coalition forces and the Iraqi company that provided the filtration system,” said Jameel Bashar, a Kalamat resident. “Now we can drink really good, clean drinking water.”

The project began when a civil affairs team visited the village and asked the sheikh how they could help. That team was replaced by Civil Affairs Team 641, who continued the effort.

“This village needed a lot of help, and the sheikh explained the difficulties of getting drinking water to the village, especially when it rains in the winter, which sometimes washes out the road,” said Capt. Eric Currence, CAT 641 commander.

To commemorate the completion of the $59,000 project, Currence and Bashar, the sheikh’s brother and representative for the village, cut the ribbon on the facility March 9.

“The system filters 1,000 liters per hour,” said Ra’ad Anhi, system operator.

“This is just another example of Iraqis helping Iraqis with the coalition’s help,” said Currence.

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Local Iraqi leaders and Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers held a reopening ceremony for the Bawi water pump and filter facility Dec.13 in Salman Pak in Baghdad’s Kadamiyah district.

This water facility has the ability to provide water to almost all of the major areas of the Mada’in Qada and many of the minor areas too.

“Before the plant was reconstructed the volume of the water produced could only reach half the residents of Salman Pak and then only if power wasn’t out,” said Staff Sgt. Douglas King, team sergeant for Civil Affairs Team 32, attached to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, MND-B. “Now there are four pumps and two large generators which can provide water to most of the Mada’in and without worrying about whether the power is up or not.”

The Iraqi contractor for this project was tasked to rebuild the generators and enable the pumps and filtration systems to resume working.

“Engineer Mohammed and the contractor, Fahmi, did a great job of restoring the plant,” said 1st Lt. Jesse Elmore, team leader for CAT-32. “Contractor Fahmi actually went above and beyond the job, even building a cover for the generators to keep the rain off of the electric parts.”

Now that the plant is working, the Government of Iraq’s plan is to concentrate on the distribution systems throughout the Mada’in.

“This project is important to the continuing stability of the Mada’in,” said Gen. Hussein, commander of the 45th Iraqi Army Brigade, 11th IA Div. “Now with the water flowing I would like to welcome everyone back to farming.”

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