ERBIL PROVINCE, Iraq, April 24, 2007 — More than 26,000 residents in 13 villages receive potable water now due to 13 water well projects recently completed as part of the Iraq Reconstruction Program.
"I am grateful for all other projects which are done and which are under construction by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that positively impacted the Kurdish people."
Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Erbil
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began the well project initiative last year and completed it last month. These 13 villages in Northern Iraq did not have flowing water.
Now, another source of water has been found and tapped in this area. Each one of these 13 projects consisted of construction of deep water wells; supply of generators and submersible pumps; constructing a concrete and steel water tank; supplying and installing the water pipe line; construction of water taps; and expansion of the distribution system.
Kurdistan is suffering from a shortage of clean water and lack of water sources and water pipe, said Younis Talib, an Iraqi electrical engineer employed in the USACE Gulf Region Norths Erbil Resident Office. Talib was responsible for quality assurance and quality control on the project. This project is one of many that are essential to solve water problems in the Erbil Province; designed to stabilize the water source in 13 villages.
The people in some of these villages did not have enough water, and some were depending on spring sources for water. Others relied on water delivery by trucks, or personally carrying water containers in their cars for many miles, according to Talib.
Nawzad Hadi, the governor of Erbil, said, “The water that U.S. Army Corps of Engineers [made possible] to Bnberzi Gchka has allowed many village people to move back to their village. I am grateful for all other projects which are done and which are under construction by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that positively impacted the Kurdish people.”
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