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Website update for October 2016


Since nearly a year has sped away since the last project report on this website (see “What’s New” on the title page), it is high time to give an account of new IWP water filtration work and of how contributor money has been put to use.

Our project, conceived back in 1999, had the original intent of bringing before the eyes of US citizens the terrible effects of United Nations sanctions imposed at that time upon the government and people of Iraq. Collaterally we would also improve the health prospects of at least some part of the Iraqi population dependent upon water treatment facilities in desperate need of repair. This background, together with later modifications of the project, you can read for yourself by skimming through the “What’s New” material mentioned above.

For the last several years IWP has been financing the installation of small ultraviolet and reverse osmosis water filters in various Iraqi public institutions, primarily schools and clinics. As best we can, we have also provided follow-up maintenance for these same units. Who would think that outside help like ours would still be needed, a decade and a half after the destructive American invasion, by an Iraqi government incapable of securing the country, let alone providing critical health services like potable water. Nevertheless, here we are.

The project has ongoing activity in three areas, Najaf, Nassiriya, and Diyala Province. In Najaf we have assisted 5 school water projects supervised by Muslim Peacemaker Teams. Life for Relief and Development, an American Islamic NGO, carries out the installations in Diyala Province (east-central Iraq). For reasons of security we are advised not to name the group we work with in Nassiriya. In some areas, association with anything or anyone American is considered a threat to health. Draw your own conclusions.

Here is the report: 

October-December 2015: Four reverse osmosis (RO) water units installed at the new Nassiriya Heart Center.

February-April 2016: Four RO units placed at Monsouria Medical Center, al Karrar Medical Center, a diabetes center, and Helaladdin primary school for boys and girls. Nassiriya vicinity.

October 2016: (Life for Relief and Development) Combination water cooler and RO filtration units at two schools in Diyala Province, Zaid Bin Thebid primary school and al Mousaur middle school, Total beneficiaries, students and staff, 1100 persons.

In August 2016 we financed maintenance for 15 previously placed water filters in Nassiriya, and the next month we renewed our maintenance contract with Muslim Peacemaker Teams for the schools at Najaf.

As always we thank everyone who reads this information for your interest in the ongoing and seemingly endless tragedy of Iraq. We are keenly grateful to the many people who have given of their own time and resources to this project, mindful at the same time of the many Iraqis involved in this important and sometimes dangerous work. Shukran jazeelan.

--Art Dorland, Project Chair