Engineers provide clean water to 500,000 residents

Multi-National Force - Iraq:

Mohammed Aliwi, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region South

BAGHDAD — The Gulf Region South district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed one of the largest water projects in here - a $266 million facility in Al Shatra to provide thousands of Iraqis with clean drinking water.

At a recent ceremony, officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works and the Nasiriyah Governate Council gathered to mark the completion of the Nasiriyah Water Treatment Plant by opening the city connections at an elevated storage tank and allowing water to flow into the distribution network.

The plant and distribution system will help provide clean water to more than 500,000 residents of Dhi Qar Province in southern Iraq serving five major communities in the province: Nasiriyah, Suq Ash Shuek, Al Diwaya, Al Shatra, and Al Gharraf.

Safe drinking water will prevent the spread of disease in an area that historically has suffered from a lack of clean water and the resulting adverse health consequences. Southern Iraq has an extremely high mortality rate for infants and other children under the age of 5 due largely to preventable water-borne diseases.

Gulf Region South awarded the contract in 2004 for the water project to FlourAMEC, a joint U.S.-British venture, to design and construct the facility at Al Shatra. The plant is capable of producing 10,000 cubic meters of treated water per hour, according to Navy Cmdr. Mike Lang, Adder Area Office, Gulf Region South.

"The overall project included the construction of a water treatment plant with 10 clarifiers, three booster pump stations, five elevated storage tanks, five river crossings, and a pipeline of more than 100 kilometers," Lang said.

FlourAMEC was recognized in August 2006 for its outstanding efforts in the prevention of job site accidents in connection with the project. For more than two years, from August 2004 to October 2006, 793 days and 4.5 million contract hours were put in without a recorded workday accident.