Four months after President Bush declared victory in Iraq, basic services still are lacking across the country. Ad-Dujayl, a small town near Balad off Highway One stretching north from Baghdad to Kirkuk, is typical.

"The lack of electricity affects the water supplies," says Lt. Col. Laura Loftus of the U.S. Army 4th Engineer Battalion, home-based in Fort Carson, Colo. "Basically, they don’t have electricity to run water pumps, which has a major impact on the local community." Because of the water distribution rotation, each third of the city receives water about one day out of three.

The town gets an hour or two of power daily, six on a good day, says Maj. Rise Davis, of the U.S. Army 418th Civil Affairs Battalion. The Army is working with the town council to set up community and infrastructure projects. Ad-Dujayl is a small backwater town, with gravel streets, open sewage flows and poor trash collection. Per capita income is estimated at $60 per month.

But electricity shortages and security problems make long-term projects such as water purification and distribution difficult. Ad-Dujayl’s water demand is 600 cu m per hour, but the water treatment plant can process only 200 cu m per hour. Corroded water tanks and a small back-up generator, supported by concrete blocks, underscore that the facility was built in 1958 and not refurbished since.   

Water drawn from the Tigris River doesn’t sit in sedimentation tanks long enough for purification. "The water in collection is still green. This is why we don’t drink the local water," Davis says.

Major Matt Cadicamo, the 4th Engineer Battalion’s operations officer, explains that with a shortage of power, corruption is another major challenge. Directors of electricity substations from Bayji south to Balad are being bribed to supply generation to people who can pay for the service.

Loftus says the short-term solution is buying new generators. "We are trying to get very large generators to get 6 Mw of power," she says. "We want to come up with two 3-Mw generators. But we have been unable to buy them."