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Posted on 10/02/2007 5:37:50 PM PDT by SandRat
FORWARD OPERATING BASE HAMMER — Mada'in Qada Mayor Abu Bahar and al-Huda village's Sheik Shanno cut a ribbon, marking the opening of a new fresh-water well pumping station in al-Huda Sept. 23.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, along with the Nahia council, members of local Iraqi Security Forces, the Qada mayor and members of the village, attended the ceremony.
The project started in July and ended with the pumping station opening 72 days later. The well system is comprised of a gated building, a 40-meter well, four 5,000-gallon water storage tanks, a water compact filtration system, a 20 kilowatt-hour generator and distribution faucets.
Local leadership selected two employees to be trained on maintenance and operation of the well house. The two caretakers have quarters with a kitchen, restroom, bathroom and showers in the facility.
Thirty-two people from the village were employed during its construction.
"We met with the local leaders who identified the problem of having no clean and reliable water source," said 1st Lt. Matthew Givens, of Columbus, Ga., leader of Team Village for 1-15 Inf. Regt. "We conducted bi-weekly updates checking on the contractor, workers and the progress of the facility."
The project was completed Sept. 20, and Givens said he thinks the project will affect the village in many ways. The largest impact, he said, is the village now has a reliable source of drinking water.
"The well will produce approximately 5,000 gallons of clean drinking water per day," Givens said. "The people are now able to bring buckets or bottles to the facility and fill up on clean water."
Water discarded from the facility will be pumped into neighboring fields for irrigation. On days they choose not to pump water residents can filter water from the water compact filtration system.
Villagers have taken to the project with enthusiasm. Givens said the residents were amazed.
"(An Iraqi reporter) told me that he wished I could speak Arabic so I could hear how happy and grateful the local citizens were about this project," Givens said.
Givens also said the facility surpassed what his team expected a well-house to be. With its self-sustaining power source, air-conditioning, kitchen, bathroom, shower and garden, the facility is extremely well built, he added.
One of the village sheiks couldn't say enough about the facility and the Soldiers who helped the project.
" (Sheik Shanno) said that he prayed to Allah for the ability to help his people," Givens said, "and Allah delivered the Coalition Forces to his village."
The 1-15 Inf. Regt. is assigned to 3rd HBCT, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga., and has been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom since March.
FR WAR NEWS! Cut off the funding, bring them home now, they hate us, it's a civil war, these people are not worth our efforts. Feh!
It’s good to see. I’m curious as to how much it cost. About the capacity of a ranchhouse well, probably 2” pipe and insufficient capacity for firefighting, but a great asset when potable water isn’t available.
Another accomplishment,in a string of successful projects, you will not see in the MSM.
God Bless our troops and President Bush.
They've never had running water. I'm sure they've figured out how to put out fires without it.
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