No Water, No Electricity, No Progress

With the approaching hot summer come troubling reports of major water and electricity shortages in Baghdad.  The situation is so dire that many Iraqis have resorted to digging wells in their backyards. Electricity levels across Iraq are still below prewar levels, despite the fact that increasing Iraq’s power supply was a top priority of the Bush Administration. No military strategy will work if the U.S. cannot provide basic services to the Iraqi people.

Over the past three weeks, Baghdad has suffered severe power and water shortages of up to 23 hours per day.  Baghdad’s water pumping stations require electricity and currently, more than 8 of the 12 supply lines are down.  With average highs topping 110˚F in July and August the situation has the potential to get even worse.  Meanwhile, Baghdadis are forced to find their own water supply. Neighborhood co-ops are purchasing and running their own fuel-driven generators. Those who can afford to try and dig wells in their backyard, an expensive operation which also seriously affects the water table.  [NSN Staff Interviews.  Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 6/8/07]

Baghdad is still averaging only 5.6 hours of electricity per day.  This number represents only 20% of prewar production levels.  The Bush Administration’s Coalition Provisional Authority initially targeted 6,000 megawatts per day by June of 2004 and made the creation of a stable Iraqi electrical and water infrastructure a top priority.  Iraq is still 40% below those levels.  The average amount of electricity generated nationally in May (The last full month of reporting) was only 3,722 megawatts, a 6% drop-off from prewar levels.  This despite an effort to distribute electricity more equitably on a national level.  [Brookings Institution, 6/7/07]

Not enough potable water exists in Iraq.  According to the International Red Cross, “both the quantity and quality of drinking water in Iraq remain insufficient despite limited improvement…water is often contaminated, owing to the poor repair of sewage and water-supply networks and the discharge of untreated sewage into rivers, which are the main source of drinking water.”  [Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, 4/2007]

The United States has spent more than $3 billion on the Iraqi electricity sector with little result.  As of March 2007, the U.S. had spent $3.12 billion on the Iraqi electricity sector with another $900 million obligated but not expended.  Despite this funding, electricity is still below prewar levels.  [Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, 4/2007]

The United States has spent $1.5 billion on water projects but there are still water shortages across the country.  Another $500 million has been obligated to similar projects and is due to be spent over the next year.  [Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, 4/2007]

While Iraqis don’t have enough water or electricity, the Bush Administration is building the largest and most luxurious U.S. embassy in the world.  The $592 million campus is due for completion in September.  It features green grass gardens, palm-lined avenues, and volleyball and basketball courts. Available to embassy employees are a commissary, cinema, retail and shopping areas, restaurants, schools, a fire station, power and water treatment plants, as well as telecommunications and wastewater treatment facilities.  [Fox News, 6/4/07]