Water for Peace

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“Only 30 percent of children nationwide have access to safe drinking water in Iraq, and only 20 percent of people outside Baghdad have a working sewage service.” ~UN Children’s Fund.

Your school, organization, or community could supply a school or hospital in Iraq with clean fresh drinking water. The province of Najaf (population 1.2 million) lies 100 miles south of Baghdad. Approximately 500 schools, as well as 20 hospitals and clinics in Najaf, are in desperate need of water filtration systems. The main water system in Najaf is gradually being restored, but the water is contaminated with bacteria from sewage. It cannot be used for drinking. Thus, school children and others are forced to drink contaminated water.WaterForPeace

The Muslim Peacemaker Teams (MPT) has found an Iraqi supplier who sells three different sized water purifications systems at a cost of $250, $500 and $1,000 that provide 189, 750 or 1,500 liters of fresh water per day. The smallest filtration system could supply clean water for a school of approximately 100 students; the largest filtration system could supply a 200-bed hospital with adequate clean water. Each system of the three will need a small electrical generator that cost $250.

The prices quoted above include the cost of shipping, installation and filters for six months. Hopefully, this project will be the beginning of a relationship between your school, church or community and the school, clinic or hospital receiving the water filtration system. You could send photos and letters from students or others explaining why you are doing this and receive photos and responses from the receiving school, clinic or hospital.

Every school in Iraq should have clean drinking water. Schools, churches and communities in the United States can make that happen. If you know of a student, teacher, school, church or community that might be interested in helping with this Water for Peace project, please contact:

Mika Thuening, Program Director, Water for Peace
The Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project (IARP)
phone: 952-210-2420
fax: 952-545-9981

email: mika@reconciliationproject.org

View our educational materials on Water for Peace

Water for Peace Action at Al-Ghadeer Kindergarten in Najaf

May 14th, 2009

Below are some images of children at Al-Ghadeer Kindergarten in Najaf, where a small water purifier unit was recently installed by the Muslim Peacemaker Teams. 150 kids attend the school.

Thanks to the sisters at Racine Dominicans for donating the purifier unit.

I feel bad for the kids having to sit through so many pictures! (there are many more not shown here…)









Water in Iraq

March 30th, 2009

How many times a day do you drink water? Do you stop to think what might be in it, besides “just water”? In the U.S., many peole take safe water for granted, but in Iraq, water can be dangerous.

According to the Red Cross, about40% of Iraqis today lack access to clean water, putting millions at risk of contracting water-borne diseases just from drinking tap water. 36% of drinking water in Iraq’s capital city, Baghdad, is unsafe in a good month, and 90% is unsafe in a bad month. Water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, and hepatitis are the biggest killers of children under 5.

Imagine nearly losing your six year old son, or your friend, to a disease contracted from drinking bad water. After this happened to one Iraqi man, he began devoting a huge portion of his monthly income to buying clean water from private tankers. Many Iraqis spend a third or more of their income on clean water. For the poor families who cannot afford to buy any clean water, the only option is to drink water that smells of human waste and carries multiple diseases. One man says his infant daughter’s continuous illnesses and his constant nausea confirm that the water is bad: “We are the poor. No one cares if we get sick and die. But someone should do something about the water. It is dirty. It brings disease.”

Why is water in Iraq so bad? Iraq’s waste-treatment systems – similar to what we have in the U.S. – are obsolete, and sewage is poured into the country’s main sources of water, such as the Tigris river. Iraq’s upstream neighbors Syria, Turkey, and Iran have all built dams reducing the flow of clean water into Iraq. According to U.S. Vets for Peace, “Since 1991, the water supply and sanitation sector has experienced steady but devastating decline. Aging infrastructure, poorly maintained equipment, leaking water and sewer networks and low technical capacity are some of the key problems of the sector. Only 9% of the urban population outside Baghdad is served by sewerage systems, while the northern and rural areas do not have piped sewage systems.”

The country’s water infrastructure (treatment plants, pipes, etc.) has steadily worsened over the last two decades for a number of reasons: neglect under Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. bombing that forced Iraq to leave Kuwait in 1991 and hit Iraq’s infrastructure, international sanctions during the 1990s, and the U.S. invasion in 2003 that led to sectarian fighting. Since 2003, insurgents have targeted the country’s water system and killed 500 of Baghdad’s engineers. More than 2,200 doctors and nurses have been killed and more than 250 kidnapped, and at least 20,000 have left the country.
While U.S. reconstruction teams, the Iraqi government, and relief organizations have been working to repair and upgrade water and sewage treatment plants, there is a long way to go. Much more is needed to help provide Iraqis with clean water. Water for Peace is one attempt to do that. Initiated by Vets for Peace, it is a service-learning project that raises funds to provide Iraqi schools with drinkable water. Available to US schools, clubs, and religious institutions, this project links a US organization with a recipient school. Photos of the installation process and the resulting happy, healthier children help to build bridges across our cultures that have been torn apart by war.
These projects are sponsored by the Iraqi & American Reconciliation Project (IARP) of MN whose mission is to promote reconciliation between the people of the United States and Iraq in response to the devastation affecting Iraqi families, society and culture.
Additional sources for Iraqi water situation International Red Cross (March 2008): http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/iraq-report-170308/$file/ICRC-Iraq-report-0308-eng.pdf
Veterans for Peace (2007): http://www.iraqwaterproject.org/images/Hamdan-Jessir-Water-Project-Report.pdf
IRIN humanitarian news and analysis (April 2009): http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=70920
Government Accountability Office (September 2005):
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05872.pdf
Water Webster Iraq (news source about water): http://waterwebster.org/IraqWater.htm
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction: http://www.sigir.mil/reports/Default.aspx
CBS News (August 2007): http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/03/eveningnews/main3132093.shtml
USA Today (August 2008): http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2008-08-01-Iraq-water_N.htm

Water for Peace: MPTer Ameer at work!

July 13th, 2007