iraqis dig their own wells in battlescarred mosul
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Iraqis dig their own wells in battle-scarred Mosul

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Iraqis dig their own wells in battle-scarred Mosul

Water sold in Mosul, Iraq (Photo:Reuters)
Mosul - Arab today

The families start queuing every day near the well in Mosul's Karaj al-Shamal neighbourhood, filling their large plastic containers with sulphurous, nearly undrinkable water.

 

As the battle to clear out Islamic State drags on around them, the residents of the wrecked city in northern Iraq have given up waiting for the government or international aid groups and started digging their own water out of the rubble.

They don't always hit the cleanest sources.

"We have no water, no electricity, no salaries, and no food. What are we supposed to do? Eat grass?" says 56-year-old Fasla Taher, as she take her containers home to the nine orphans and two widowed daughters under her care.

Shaker Mahmoud, a carpenter and day labourer, says he helped dig the well, funded by a local benefactor. The same unnamed donor has paid for five others in the area and local charities have dug some more.

Families try boiling the water to make it safer to drink, but the smell and the taste linger. "It is not fit to drink. I took it to a lab once and they said it was 15-25 percent sulphur," says Mahmoud.

The supply is still invaluable for washing - at least 10 children had died in the area because of unsanitary conditions since the fighting started.

Islamic State militants overran the city in 2014, taking it as their biggest base in Iraq and triggering counter-attacks that have destroyed large parts of the infrastructure, including the water pipes.

A government offensive that started in October has cleared the militants out of the eastern side of the city. But the ultra-conservative militants are holed up in the Old City on the western side of the Tigris river and fighting seems to have stalled.

WATER TREATMENT

The United Nations Development Programme and the government this week also reopened a water sanitation plant, part of a programme that they hope will supply all re-taken areas in three months - still a long wait for the residents.

"It's now been weeks, months really, since there has been safe drinking water here and that is why the opening of this water treatment plant is just so important today," Lise Grande, UNDP Resident Representative for Iraq, told Reuters on Sunday.

About another 25 other plants are in line for repairs.

Beyond Mosul itself, officials say it will take $35 billion to restore all facilities in surrounding Nineveh province, though the central government in Baghdad has not yet made funds available.

Back in Karaj al-Shamal, the residents are still doing the work for themselves, as they wait for their own treatment plant to be repaired.

Progress has been slow. Soon after Islamic State quit their area, locals pooled money to repair their pipeline, only to watch it destroyed in an air strike the same day the work finished.

So they resorted to their own wells, and queuing up outside with their large plastic containers.

"This is all set up by generous people. The state is not involved," Mahmoud says.

Source: Ahram online   

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

iraqis dig their own wells in battlescarred mosul iraqis dig their own wells in battlescarred mosul

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

iraqis dig their own wells in battlescarred mosul iraqis dig their own wells in battlescarred mosul

 



GMT 10:10 2017 Thursday ,09 February

3 Important Elements You Have to Consider

GMT 04:03 2017 Monday ,24 April

Bella Hadid ‘dying’ to visit Palestine

GMT 19:25 2016 Wednesday ,25 May

The Brooklyn Desk by Oeuf NYC

GMT 07:49 2018 Friday ,05 January

2 Russian servicemen killed

GMT 07:58 2018 Monday ,01 January

Italy orders N. Korea's envoy to leave

GMT 08:45 2017 Wednesday ,20 December

US military imagines war without GPS

GMT 17:26 2017 Sunday ,17 December

Putin thanks Trump for help in foiling attack plot

GMT 22:19 2017 Monday ,16 October

Cairo-hosted Fatwa conf. new contribution

GMT 02:27 2016 Friday ,10 June

Video hints Japan abetting illegal ivory trade

GMT 07:04 2017 Wednesday ,19 April

1,883 Bahrainis found jobs in March

GMT 14:24 2016 Tuesday ,22 November

Citi and JPMorgan top list of ‘globally banks’

GMT 21:43 2017 Friday ,01 September

People question Nazaruddin`s repatriation expenses

GMT 09:41 2017 Wednesday ,19 April

OIC concerned over violence in Mali

GMT 01:30 2017 Friday ,27 October

May22/Jun21

GMT 05:38 2016 Friday ,30 December

Dubai Airports divert 13 flights due to heavy fog

GMT 11:38 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Mexico names new ambassador to US

GMT 12:03 2017 Wednesday ,22 March

Kuwait to mark World Water Day

GMT 15:00 2017 Wednesday ,27 September

HM King receives invitation from Egyptian President

GMT 02:45 2017 Tuesday ,05 December

President Bashir arrives in Chad

GMT 02:45 2017 Wednesday ,16 August

Turkmen President Visits Pakistan
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday