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| Refurbishment of a water treatment plant in Karbala will supply safe water and improve sanitation. |
Washington, DC -- Weekly Update -- This fact sheet highlights overall accomplishments and some weekly activities from USAID’s reconstruction efforts in Iraq. For more information on USAID’s programs in Iraq please see: www.usaid.gov/iraq
Program Overview
USAID's goal is to improve the efficiency and reliability of existing water and wastewater treatment facilities, especially those in the south where water quantity and quality are particularly low. An anticipated 11.8 million Iraqis will benefit from USAID?s $600 million in water and sanitation projects.
HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK
Workers are installing lift pumps and pouring concrete foundations as work moves forward on the refurbishment of a water treatment plant in Karbala. The plant is located in the city center, near one of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines. In addition to providing water to city residents, the plant provides potable water to an estimated three million Shia pilgrims. Some of the plant’s processing trains were becoming overloaded by solidladen influent. Marginal disinfection was effective with most bacteria, but less effective with pathogens that cause amoebic dysentery, a public health risk.
Because it was in such a dire state of disrepair, the project originally called for the replacement of the original clarifiers rather than repair, but local governing authorities disagreed. A compromise was reached to install compact clarifier units adjacent to the existing clarifiers, allowing for future rehabilitation of the existing plant. This project will install 10 compact clarifier units, each with a flow capacity of 400 cubic meters per hour. The project will also enlarge the existing inlet works and associated pump station.
Recently, work continued to install concrete reinforcing steel bar, formwork, and concrete at the compact units’ foundations. At the intake work facility, installation of a new low lift pump and refurbishing of piping and valves is ongoing. The project is now 14 percent finished and is expected to be complete in September 2005.
Local Governance Program (LGP) staff in south central Iraq recently completed a three week contracting workshop for 15 technicians from the Wasit Directorate of Sewage. Session topics included opening, analyzing and selecting bids, initiating projects, forming project supervisory committees, an overview of construction from start to finish, and record-keeping for project completion and post-project archives.
Iraqi sewage departments will be proposing hundreds of millions of dollars of construction in new sewage infrastructure capacity in the coming years to replace ageing equipment; most of that construction will be done by private contractors. A thorough understanding of transparent bidding, the objective selection of winning bids, and binding legal contracts is essential to promote representative, responsive, and accountable government.
Source: USAID, http://www.usaid.gov/
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