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Filthy Iraqi drinking water raises cholera fears

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-02 16:58

A cholera outbreak in northern Iraq last year killed 14 people. A similar outbreak of the waterborne disease in Baghdad - home to about 6 million people - could be far worse.

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"Iraq is on the cusp of a serious water crisis that requires immediate attention and resources," said Thomas Naff, a Middle East water expert at the University of Pennsylvania.

The World Bank has estimated that it would take $14.4 billion to rebuild the Iraqi public works and water system.

A US Embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to the media, said the actual need is higher. The United States has allocated $2.7 billion for water projects in Iraq, but the official said the money is running out.

Iraq has been slow in spending its billions in oil revenues on public works projects - despite insistence from US military commanders who recommend quality-of-life improvements to undercut militants and win over Sunni districts wary of the Shiite-led government.

"Up to now we have seen nothing from the government," Sheik Ayad Abdul-Jabbar al-Jubouri complained to a top American commander during a July 12 meeting at a combat outpost in Radwaniyah, a Sunni community just west of the capital. He said the central government is sitting on US-led projects to repair four small water treatment plants and improve two irrigation canals in Radwaniyah.

"We'll fix it," Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond assured the sheik.

Mustafa Hamid, a spokesman for the Iraqi environment ministry, said the water pipe network is more than 50 years old and suffers from corrosion "which allows sewage water to infiltrate."

But Hamid downplayed the risk. "There is contamination but not a serious one," he said, saying test results in most parts of the city generally met "safe standards."

Many residents are unconvinced.

Hassan Khalid, 13, said he took antibiotics for typhoid four months ago after drinking tap water. "I had fever, headaches and was throwing up all the time," he said.

Although bottled of water is sold in Iraq - much of it from Saudi Arabia - the majority of Baghdad residents use tap water. US troops, however, are warned that the water is only for bathing, not drinking.

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