27 water purification plants for Sadr City

 

By Ali Khaleel

 

Azzaman, July 23, 2005

 

Sadr City’s municipal council is constructing 27 water purification plants, the site engineer said.

 

Sabah al-Batawi said the plants which will rely on wells for water supply are expected to ease pressure on the capital’s water utility which relies on the Tigris River for supplies.

 

Sadr City, Baghdad’s most impoverished neighborhood, suffers from erratic water and power supplies

 

Batawi said the 27 projects built at a cost of $1.8 million are expected “to solve the huge water problem the city has been undergoing recently.”

 

Work on the plants started four months ago and one of them is already operational, Batawi said.

 

Underground water is available in huge quantities and easily accessible. But it is rather salty, unfit from both human and agricultural purposes.

 

The new plants use high-level technology that purifies the water before it flows through pipelines to households in Sadr City.

 

“The project to be completed in two months will provide drinking water for about 2,000 houses,” Batawi said.

 

The project will make available about 400,000 liters of pure water to Sadr City, he said.