Water taps run dry in Baghdad

[rodeodance]

Source: ap




Water taps run dry in Baghdad

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer 53 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Much of the Iraqi capital was without running water Thursday and had been for at least 24 hours, compounding the urban misery in a war zone and the blistering heat at the height of the Baghdad summer.

Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for six days because the already strained electricity grid cannot provide sufficient power to run water purification and pumping stations.

Baghdad routinely suffers from periodic water outages, but this one is described by residents as one of the most extended and widespread in recent memory. The problem highlights the larger difficulties in a capital beset by violence, crumbling infrastructure, rampant crime and too little electricity to keep cool in the sweltering weather more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Jamil Hussein, a 52-year-old retired army officer who lives in northeast Baghdad, said his house has been without water for two weeks, except for two hours at night. He says the water that does flow smells and is unclean........





Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq;_ylt=AkaqZ4kZZozpKUpfZzhVuAys0NUE

---

yet they drink it as they can not afford bottled water.

And there gov. goes on vacation.

[atreides1]

1. Yes Their Government went on Vacation

But it's our Government that f***ked their infrastructure up in the first place!

[orleans]

11. well then, i guess that means our government will go on vacation too. n/t

[acmavm]

2. Is water plentiful in the Green Zone? I checked and it didn't say...

<snip>

Noah Miller, spokesman for the U.S. reconstruction program in Baghdad, said that water treatment plants were working "as far as we know."

"It could be a host of issues. ... And one of those may be leaky trunk lines. If there's not enough pressure to cancel out that leakage, that's when the water could fail to reach the household," Miller said.

He said that there had been a nationwide power blackout for a few hours Wednesday night that might be causing problems for all systems that depend on Iraq's already creaking electricity grid.

<snip>

[Tyler Durden]

3. Mission Accomplished.

If we as a nation do not hold these criminals legally and morally responsible for this evil, we will go down in history with the nations of the Crusades and the Nazis as invaders and despoilers.

And don't give me any of that "The Nazis killed millions..." bullshit. We are complicit in every genocide and war that has take place in the last 50 years to one degree or another. There is blood from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Uganda, Rwanda, Sarajevo, Dar fur, Lebanon AND Iraq on our hands just to mention the "Majors."

The Romans will look like QUAKERS next to us, because we have abandoned and betrayed a sacred trust the world gave us with the destruction of fascism in WW2.

[underpants]

10. Iraq *WAS* the main freshwater supplier to the middle east

at one time. Gee wonder how a thing like that could happen??? There must REALLY be a big demand for it now huh?

This war was as much about water as it was for oil or position in the ME.

[gratuitous]

4. Wow, another report that the surge is working!

The terrorists in Baghdad have had their water cut off (along with the rest of the population, but we're focusing on the good news out of Iraq, Sparky)! Gen. Petraeus, heckuva job! Support them troops! U! S! A! U! S! A!

[Bonobo]

5. Are luxuries in the Green Zone to blame on the strain, I wonder?

”Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for six days because the already strained electricity grid cannot provide sufficient power to run water purification and pumping stations.”

[Kagemusha]

12. Unlikely.

Speaking of the electricity grid, US equipment runs on different standards to begin with; that's the standards used by the Green Zone's power sources.

That's not to comfort anyone. But to think that the Green Zone runs off the same power sources is just not appreciating the situation. OTOH, trying to make Iraq's electrical system more like the Green Zone's has been a complete disaster, and most certainly has held the rest of the system back.

[TomInTib]

6. Helloooo cholera...

and the hospitals (the few in operation) are past the bursting point.

[rodeodance]

7. it is an ideal set up for disease to set in.

[TomInTib]

8. 130 degree heat doesn't hurt, either.

Whaddya bet we never even hear any estimates of fatalities?

Bet the farm, you're safe.

[dkofos]

9. And that is after we spent billions to repair it. Or at least that is what they told us.

[Doctor_J]

13. How much you want to bet KBR has the plumbing concession

and charges the taxpayers $1M/ft for Baghdad plumbing?

[aquart]

14. Liebensraum. Kill them all. Take their oil.

A favorite Nazi plan.

[Limelight]

15. Water taps run dry in Baghdad

Source: AP

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 2, 2:19 PM ET

BAGHDAD - Much of the Iraqi capital was without running water Thursday and had been for at least 24 hours, compounding the urban misery in a war zone and the blistering heat at the height of the Baghdad summer.

Residents and city officials said large sections in the west of the capital had been virtually dry for six days because the already strained electricity grid cannot provide sufficient power to run water purification and pumping stations.

Baghdad routinely suffers from periodic water outages, but this one is described by residents as one of the most extended and widespread in recent memory. The problem highlights the larger difficulties in a capital beset by violence, crumbling infrastructure, rampant crime and too little electricity to keep cool in the sweltering weather more than four years after the U.S.-led invasion.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070802125011http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070802125011

---

See this is why the Iraqi Parliment went on vacation. Tony Snow had it right... It was hot and there weren't any damn water fountains.

How utterly pathetic.

[sarcasmo]

16. Oil flowing well, water not flowing at all.

Mission Accomplished.

[NickB79]

20. Hell, even the oil isn't flowing well

They're still about 400,000 barrels/day below pre-war levels.

These buffoons can't even rob a country of oil successfully.

[dickbearton]

17. Oh Ya...

The surge is working well. More lies from the Bush pentagon. 

[Grandrose]

18. Pathetic and criminal!

How long will the Iraqi people and the U.S. troops have to suffer the Al Maliki and Bush/Cheney cabal, war/occupation of disaster and failure? :mad:

[grytpype]

19. Just think of the progress report when the water turns back on!