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Overcoming Iraq's desert

Jun-27-2006 » Filed Under: Iraq News

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By Claude D. McKinney
Gulf Region North
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Mosul, Iraq — Iraq is a desert. That should come as no surprise to anyone. However, Iraq is also blessed with water. Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Iraq has more surface water than many of its neighbors. Because of the rich, fertile land along these waterways, most of Iraq’s population lives along the rivers. Unfortunately, this water is of little benefit to Iraqis who live in other parts of Iraq -- away from those life-giving flows. In Northern Iraq, many villages have never had flowing water. Now, another source of water has been found and tapped in this area -- an underground aquifer. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun a well initiative that is due to be completed in mid-summer 2006. At its completion, the initiative will create 49 wells to service 37 Northern Iraqi communities.[...]

The local citizens still need to carry the water from the tap-stand to their homes, but it is a big improvement over trucking water in, or having individuals carry water in containers in their cars for many miles to supply their needs.

“I don’t know where they got their water from before this well was here,” said Bill Hood the program engineer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region North, who manages water project contracts for the Corps. “There was no river or stream that I could see anywhere near the well sites I visited.”

As children do around the world when there is a running water hose, these children of Shikhan village now can play in water available near to their homes. (USACE Photo)
Just as valuable as having a source of water available locally, is the fact that this new water is fit to drink without additional processing. The wells, many as deep as 600 feet and some as shallow as 200 feet, tap directly into an aquifer of nearly pure water. It receives chlorination as an assurance to kill any bacteria which may invade the system. This can do nothing but improve the health of the Iraqi people.[...]


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