FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY — More than 500,000 Iraqi residents have purified water headed to their neighborhoods as Baghdad Water Authority officials, along with Iraqi leaders and leaders from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, opened a water distribution site at Joint Security Station Al Khansa in eastern Baghdad, Aug. 3.
After officials opened the site, two BWA drivers filled their trucks with purified water for distribution to residents in their neighborhoods. The site at JSS Al Khansa is part of a combined Iraqi and MND-B project dubbed Patriot H2O that began in late April. The project established three water-distribution sites and coordinated transportation to disburse water to area residents.
When the site is fully operational, Al Khansa area residents can expect an estimated 10 BWA trucks delivering water in their neighbors daily, said Sam. Each truck will contain 12,000 to 15,000 liters of purified water and, initially, the site will service at least 500,000 citizens with the potential to increase twofold in the future, explained “Sam,” an engineer and bilingual, bicultural advisor working with 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.
“We are going to double our capacity for the future, and we are going to get over a million people to [receive] distributed water,” said Sam.
In addition, the water distribution site at Al Khansa has three taps for people to fill small containers with purified water on site. Sam said he believes security was the biggest issue that delayed the project.
However, he added, there is now almost no issue at all with security in the area and the people of Al Khansa will be very happy to receive water.
“When I came to this country in 2007, my first dream [was] to give people drinking water because you can provide electricity with generators,” said Sam. “If I give one person drinking water, [then] that is a big bonus. I’m giving [water to] a million and a half. [For these people], it’s a dream to have drinking water in the desert.”
Sam said he is working on other important projects to serve the people of Baghdad. These projects include installing solar street lights and micro-power generators, which will provide electricity at a cheap price, less than 2,000 dinar per amp each month, in SUJ, Fedaliyah and other neighborhoods.