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BAGHDAD, Aug. 3, 2007 — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region Division, completed 112 construction projects between June 30 and July 27, 2007 – bringing the total number of completed projects to 3,998. Currently, there are 576 construction projects ongoing – all funded through the Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund, the Development Fund for Iraq, the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, the Economic Support Fund and the Iraq Security Forces Fund. Water projects that were completed this month include three network projects in Sadr City in Baghdad Province – each totaling $1.9 million. Each potable water project included laying...

This was no slow collapse. It is horrifying.

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – It will take time and considerable resources to rebuild Iraq following more than 25 years of neglect under Saddam Hussein’s rule, a U.S. military official told online journalists today. However, U.S. assistance is only part of a broader effort -- from both Iraqi and other donor nations -- that will have a lasting effect on the country’s infrastructure, said Army Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division commander. Numerous relief and developmental funds have resulted in more than 3,300 completed projects for electricity, oil and water systems throughout Iraq. As of May,...

6/29/2007   Over 3000 area residents of Al Bukodher Village will receive fresh potable water from the completed Al Bukodher Potable Water Treatment Plant in the Al Zubaydia District, Wasit Province. 6/29/2007   In excess of 35,000 patients per year will receive outpatient healthcare from the completed BR11 Al Thani Public Health Clinic, in Baghdad, Thawra, M540, Baghdad Province which can treat up to 100 patients per day. 6/29/2007   Area residents of Al Ameen will receive outpatient healthcare from the completed BR03 Al Ameen Public Health Clinic, in Baghdad, 9 Nisan, M743, Baghdad Province which can treat up to 100 patients...

BAGHDAD, Aug. 11, 2006 -- Bettering the lives of Iraqi youngsters is what Peter Debski says is the best part of his job. Project engineer Peter Debski poses for a photo with local children at a youth center in Baghdad’s Kadamiyah district in February. Debski said renovating the facility is one of the most fulfilling things he’s done in his career. Photo by Norris Jones  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. He’s been involved in overseeing millions of dollars of reconstruction work in and around Baghdad over the past 10 months, including new water and sewer networks, electrical distribution...

TULSA, Okla. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Tulsa today announced a restriction on kite tubing on all Corps lakes in the Tulsa District. Col. Miroslav Kurka, commander of the Tulsa District, imposed the ban because of the potential for serious injuries caused by uncontrolled flight of these devices. Kite tubes are a relatively new derivative of large inner tubes towed behind speedboats that become airborne. One person died as the result of a kite tube accident this past week in Texas. Many kite tubing injuries are the direct result of the tubes reaching heights of 20...

Corps Takes Blame for Katrina Flooding By CAIN BURDEAU ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW ORLEANS (AP) - 0602dvs-blanco-fp A contrite U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took responsibility Thursday for the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and said the levees failed because they were built in a disjointed fashion using outdated data. "This is the first time that the Corps has had to stand up and say, `We've had a catastrophic failure,'" Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps chief, said as the agency issued a 6,000-page-plus report on the disaster on Day 1 of the new hurricane season. The Corps said...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A contrite U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took responsibility Thursday for the flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and said the levees failed because they were built in a disjointed fashion using outdated data. "This is the first time that the Corps has had to stand up and say, `We've had a catastrophic failure,'" Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, the Corps chief, said as the agency issued a 6,000-page-plus report on the disaster on Day 1 of the new hurricane season. The Corps said it will use the lessons it has learned to build better flood...

In just eight months, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has done years of work on the Katrina-battered ramparts around New Orleans. The Corps has repaired 169 miles of damaged levee. Replaced long stretches of inadequate concrete floodwall with a much sturdier design. Installed 70-ton gates at the mouths of ruptured drainage canals. But it isn't good enough. Even the man who has led the monumental effort to bring the Big Easy's hurricane protection infrastructure back to pre-Katrina standards says so. The defenses are "better, stronger and more resilient" than ever, said Col. Lewis Setliff. "But I'm only fixing about...

(GRD Photos) Base Camp Adder (Ali Base) Iraq – Al-Basrah’s offshore oil terminal in Umm Qasr has increased its loading capacity due to the recent completion of repairs to six damaged loading arms on Platform B, Berths 3 and 4. Extensive repairs included total refurbishment of the hydraulic systems, vacuums and power lines. The loading arm repairs provide safer, more efficient equipment and contribute greatly to restoring the terminal to full capacity. The repairs will also accommodate a larger number of vessels which means more oil and other goods can be exported from the terminal. This tasking was one of...

North Liberty, Iowa. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has signed a lease for up to 25 years with a group that wants to build a Muslim youth camp at Lake Coralville. The lease allows the Cedar Rapids-based Muslim Youth Camps of America to build on 114 acres of federal land. Construction can start once the group works out details with county and state regulators, the corps said Wednesday. Plans for the $934,000 camp north of North Liberty call for lodging up to 60 campers ages 10 to 17 in cabins and tents plus staffers during the summer and up...

ARLINGTON DEPOT, Iraq (Army News Service, March 16, 2006) – After almost three years of hard and dangerous work, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers celebrated the last major demolition under the Coalition Munitions Clearance Program in Iraq. Col. John Rivenburgh, commander of the Huntsville Engineering and Support Center, Dr. John Potter, chief of the Ordnance and Explosives Directorate and Bill Sargent, program manager of the Coalition Munitions Clearance Program recently traveled to Iraq to witness the last major demolition and initiate the next phase of the ordnance destruction work. “The last demo consisted of over 248 tons of stockpiled...

Base Camp Adder (Ali Base) Iraq - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Gulf Region South District is assisting Iraq provinces to use a new democratic process to obtain Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Funded projects. Last Spring, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced that each of Iraq’s 18 provinces would receive up to $10 million to spend on projects, if their provincial councils could work together to select and prioritize a list of projects for construction. The business process established for selecting projects and getting them approved for funding brought together Iraqi leaders of the Provincial Reconstruction Development Council (PRDC),...

> > Here is the story in New Orleans as per Vald Heiberg: > > > I was the District Engineer in New Orleans in the '70's as we fought the "Greens" over putting two huge "Dutch style" flood gates at the east end of Lake Ponchartrain. That was the Corps plan, to allow us to protect ALL of the lake shore and to keep the levees where needed along the lake (especially at New Orlean s) lower. The soil conditions near the big Lake are atrocious, unlike along the Mississippi River where centuries of natural levees with far better...

Miami-Dade County may get its most unusual artificial reef ever with the re-creation of the lost city of Atlantis in the ocean 3 ¼ miles off Key Biscayne this spring. Gary Levine's Atlantis Reef Project received final approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Miami-Dade's Department of Environmental Resources Management earlier this month to construct the sprawling network of cement and bronze statues in 50 feet of water. Levine says construction should begin in March, with the first phase ready to receive divers at the end of April. Levine said the reef will take three to five years...

ELECTRICAL SECTOR: 1,500,000 residents of Basrah and potentially all Iraqi Citizens have more reliable power with the installation of Units #5 and #6 at the Khor Az Zubayr Power Plant together producing 250 MW to the national electrical grid. The completion of underground feeder lines in Baghdad, Erbil, and Mosul cities will mean more reliable power to approximately 1,000,000 people. The 150,000 people of Mashru, Al-Noor, and Al-Askary, Babil Province now have power to distribution kiosks (on-ground transformers) that the Ministry of Electricity will use to complete the connection of the surrounding homes and businesses to the grid. More than...

The engineering mistakes that led to the canal levee failures that flooded most of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina were found and then dismissed in the Army Corps of Engineers' design review process in 1990, an investigative team reviewing the failures says. Documents, obtained by The Times-Picayune and provided to forensic engineers studying the levee breaches, show project engineers made a critical mistake in assessing soil strengths on the 17th Avenue Canal project, said Robert Bea, a University of California-Berkeley professor who is a member of the National Science Foundation team.

LEVEE INVESTIGATION: The Corps is continuing to aggressively examine the potential causes for various levee failures in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina last August. The latest move, occurring on Dec. 12 and 13 in New Orleans was the actual removal of sheet piles near the city’s 17th Street Canal levee. The Corps made no secret of the removal effort and invited federal, state and local officials to witness the event. The agency also opened the event to the press. One major reason for going directly to the source was to compare results with an earlier, indirect examination of the site,...

BASE CAMP ADDER, Iraq (Army News Service, Dec. 21, 2005) – With help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Iraqi seaport of Umm Qasr is closing in on final certification to become fully operational as an international transfer point for shipping goods. For Iraq to be a competitor in the global market place, the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code certification is necessary. Certification requires port facilities to have security assessments, security plans, trained security staffs, security drills, coast guardsmen, and communication links to ships. A coast guard forward operating base, security operation center, electrical upgrades, and...

When the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board developed a plan in 1981 to improve street drainage by dredging the 17th Street canal to increase capacity for Pump Station No.¤6, residents across the city applauded. Increasingly heavy rains were not only flooding streets, but pushing water into homes. Action was needed. It seemed like a no-brainer. Today forensic engineers investigating the levee breach that flooded much of city during Hurricane Katrina aren’t so sure. The search for the cause of the failure keeps returning to that dredging project as the probable starting point for a series of mistakes they believe...