Basra, Iraq: Iraqi officials and Coalition engineers serving in Iraq have joined forces to provide the Sadr Teaching Hospital in Basra, in the south of the country, with a new $1.9 million wastewater treatment plant.By Rich Bowden. At the ceremony opening the facility, the director of the hospital praised the spirit of cooperation between the contractor, Basra Health Directorate, city leaders and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers which had made the project possible.
"Today we celebrate the completion of this critical project that will benefit everyone in our community," Dr. Mahdi al-Jumaah said.
"More than 100 people with life-threatening emergencies are rushed here daily for immediate care," Jumaah was quoted as saying in an American Forces Press Service statement.
The hospital had been previously forced to dispose of its untreated wastewater directly into the Shatt al-Arab River, however the new technology will bring untold health and environmental benefits to the local community, Taha Mohammed al-Qurashi, chief of Basra Environmental Directorate, told the Service.
"In general, Basra province suffers from sewage problems, and this plant demonstrates what is needed to reduce that pollution," he said.
Health authorities said the modern wastewater treating equipment was a first for hospitals in their area and agreed the technology had brought great improvements.
"The hospital's old wastewater treatment plant was nonoperational," Mustafa Hamdan, a Basra Health Directorate representative, said. "This is the first hospital in our area to get this kind of modern equipment. The hospital is now discharging treated water – a great improvement for everyone."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has completed an estimated 570 water treatment and sewer projects in Iraq since 2004 with another 39 still in progress say US officials with more than 5 million people benefiting directly from these projects.
Sadr Teaching Hospital is a 487-bed facility where about 500 patients are treated daily.
Published in OOSKAnews Middle East and Africa edition.
[Image: Shatt-al-Arab River. Credit: Christiaan Briggs/flickr.
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