IRAQ: TWO MILLION BAGHDADIS LEFT WITHOUT FRESH WATER AFTER INSURGENTS SABOTAGE ONE OF THE MAIN WATERS PLANTS THAT FEEDS THE CAPITAL

Record ID: 647166

  • Title: IRAQ: TWO MILLION BAGHDADIS LEFT WITHOUT FRESH WATER AFTER INSURGENTS SABOTAGE ONE OF THE MAIN WATERS PLANTS THAT FEEDS THE CAPITAL
  • Date: 20th June 2005
  • Summary: (MER1) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 20, 2005) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF PEOPLE GATHERING IN A MUDDY POND TO FILL WATER 0.07 2. PEOPLE LINING UP WATER CANS WAITING TO FULL THEM WITH WATER/ PAN TO MAN PUTTING BOTTLES IN CAR TRUNK 0.16 3. MAN FILLING WATER CANS FROM HOSE 0.22 4. SV/CU: MAN FILLING BOTTLES WITH WATER (2 SHOTS) 0.32 5. PAN: TRUCK CARRYING WATER CANS FULL OF WATER LEAVING 0.40 6. CHILDREN FILLING BUCKETS FROM POND IN CETRAL RESERVATION 0.46 7. CLOSE UP OF CHILDREN FILLING BUCKETS WITH WATER 0.52 8. CU: WATER BUBBLING OUT FROM BROKEN PIPE 0.57 9. (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) BAGHDAD RESIDENT, SHERENE ABDUL BASSIT, SAYING: "We are filling water. They say this is a democratic government, but we have no water, no electricity and people are dying in thousands and millions daily. Is this freedom? Is this democracy? Is this a government? It can not be called a government. Maybe we would have been better off without the government. Why have we risked our lives and voted? 1.20 10. SHERENE WITH HER SISTERS CARRYING BUCKETS FULL OF WATER TO THEIR HOUSE ACROSS STREET 1.29 11. MV: SHERENE AND HER SISTERS OUTSIDE HOUSE 1.37 (MER1) AL-KERKH WATER PROJECT, BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JUNE 20, 2005) (REUTERS) 12. WS: SWAMP OF WATER/ PAN TO WATER PROJECT BUILDING 1.47 13. SCU: WATER GUSHING OUT FROM BROKEN WATER PIPE 1.52 14. TV'S: WORKERS REPAIRING WATER STORAGE TANKS (2 SHOTS) 2.04 15. (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) ABDUL KARIM ABBAS, ENGINEER AT AL-KAREKH WATER PROJECT, SAYING: "The pipeline, which carries water from al-Kerkh Water Project to Baghdad city, was blown up and damaged in the morning of June 19." 2.16 16. WIDE OF PEOPLE NEAR PICK-UP TRUCK 2.21 17. PEOPLE NEAR PICK-UP FILLING WATER 2.26 18. (SOUNDBITE)(Arabic) RESIDENT HUSSEIN ALI ABDUL AMEER, SAYING: "The government is to blame in my opinion. Where is the Minister of Irrigation, let him see the conditions of the people. Where is the Minister of Irrigation? Do not say that this is a sabotage because saboteurs may hit the water project of Karada, but they do not hit that of Baghdad, because Baghdad has more than one (water) project." 2.51 19. PEOPLE FILLING POT ON PICK-UP TRUCK WITH WATER 3.57 20. CLOSE UP OF WATER HOSE FILLING POT 3.03 21. PEOPLE WAITING IN QUEUE FOR WATER 3.09 22. WOMEN AND HER CHILDREN CARRYING POTS FULL OF WATER WALKING HOME 3.24 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA6A8SXGA325OWIDQWSTEYE3IT0
  • Story Text: Two million Baghdadis without fresh water after
    insurgents sabotage one of the main water plants.


    Two million Baghdadis are without fresh water after
    officials said insurgents sabotaged one of the main water
    plants that feed the Iraqi capital.

    As temperatures rose above 40 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit),
    angry and frustrated residents scoured their neighbourhoods
    on Monday (June 20), looking for broken sub-pipelines where
    water bubbled out and carrying home cans and pots for
    drinking and cooking.

    More than two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein
    and five months after an election that many hoped would
    swiftly bring order and good government, there was a sense
    of deep disappointment.

    "We are filling water. They say this is a democratic
    government, but we have no water, no electricity," said
    Sherene Abdul Bassit as she filled a plastic canister from
    a muddy pond on a street in the Karada district.

    "Is this a government? It can not be called a
    government. Maybe we would have been better off without the
    government. Why have we risked our lives and voted?," she
    said, to cheers of agreement among her neighbours.

    The government issued a statement on Sunday (June 19)
    saying insurgents had sabotaged a water pipeline that feeds
    the western half of the city of four million.

    "The pipeline, which carries water from al-Kerkh Water
    Project to Baghdad city was blown up and damaged in the
    morning of June 19," said Abdul Karim Abbas, an engineer at
    the Al-Kerkh Water Project.

    Abbas said that work has started to fix and repair the
    damaged water pipeline and promised to end repair works in
    two days.

    Some local people, used to years of privation under
    international sanctions and war, are sceptical of the new
    government's will and ability to provide for them.

    "The government is to blame in my opinion. Where is the
    Minister of Irrigation, let him see the conditions of the
    people. Where is the Minister of the Irrigation? Do not say
    that this is a sabotage because saboteurs may hit the water
    project of Karada, but they do not hit that of Baghdad,
    because Baghdad has more that one (water) project," said
    Ali Abdul Amir who joins a long queue of people waiting to
    fill water cans from a broken sub-pipeline.

    Amir said that the people would use this water for
    washing, cleaning and drinking, even though it is dirty and
    full of disease.

    Guerrillas, drawn mainly from Saddam's once dominant
    Sunni minority and intent on undermining first the U.S.

    occupation forces and now the new, Shi'ite-led government,
    have targeted basic supply lines for electricity, water and
    fuel.

    Electricity is available for only a few hours a day in
    most homes which lack their own generators, a major
    discomfort in summer temperatures that can top 50 Celsius
    (120 Fahrenheit).

    Severe water shortages earlier this year prompted
    residents to start digging new wells in gardens and back
    yards.


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