February 19, 2003 -- They're just parts.
They are not food to feed the hungry or medicine to cure the afflicted.
They are just mechanical components for a water treatment facility.
But for the townspeople of Mahaweel and Hamza, in central Iraq, these parts are lifesavers. They will complete the repair of water treatment plants that provide water to hospitals, homes and schools – impacting the health, hygiene and sanitation of whole communities.
"The Hamza and Mahaweel hospitals didn't have any running water, couldn't store any water, and had no means of disposing of the sewage, so it was flowing out of the back of the hospital, back into the river polluting the surrounding area," says Margaret Hassan, CARE's country director in Iraq. "Parts were actually crumbling – there was a crack where I could put my hand straight through."
The parts, which are on their way to Iraq, will enable CARE to rehabilitate deteriorated water systems that affect the water and health services for 370,000 people in two governorates south of Baghdad.
"These towns, like all towns in Iraq, have sophisticated water installations that purify the water for drinking, to provide safe water to the population. But to keep this running requires lots of money. In 1990 the government of Iraq spent $100 million per year on spare parts alone for the water industry," notes Hassan.
| An Iraqi woman stands at a control console inside a water treatment facility. © 1999 Jenny Matthews/CARE. |
|
But following the Gulf War, water systems – as well as much of the country's infrastructure – began deteriorating. Even when UN sanctions allowed for repairs to the systems, spare parts were in short supply and so were the water experts to maintain the systems.
"These big water treatment plants were previously operated automatically," says Hassan. "But the automatic opening of the valves had broken and they had to be opened by hand. You need a lot of strength, and a lot of time for lots of valves in different sections. This water treatment plant had 120 employees in 1990, and it was down to 30. The plant hadn't decreased in size but the manpower had."
To improve the water system, CARE began by looking at the entire water network – from the water treatment to the houses, the hospitals, and the schools that rely on it.
"We rehabilitate the water treatment plant and replace the worst parts of the water network," says Hassan. "Because the water might be great when it comes out of the plant, but by the time it goes through these pipes it is contaminated."
Running water will increase the hospitals' capacity to provide health care for the growing populations of both towns. Clean water in homes means better hygiene and fewer instances of diarrhea and other water-borne illness, which annually kill more than 1 million children around the world.
"They will be able to turn on the water – it will be good water, not contaminated in any way," says Hassan. "And they will have access to a proper hospital."
And that's the best part.
