Sweet Water Canal Project To serve 1.75 million citizens by March 2004
Photo: USAID/ Thomas Hartwell
Senior Civil Engineer of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, Chris Alfonso and Iraqi Site Engineer, Abdul Karim Ali inspect ongoing work at the Sweet Water Canal project.
Since 1996, the canal has supplied all the fresh water to the city of Basrah and environs. The 275km canal, storage reservoir and pumping stations have suffered from a lack of maintenance and will be rehabilitated by USAID at a cost of almost $12 million. When completed by March 1, 2004, it will serve 1.75 million citizens of the Basrah region. USAID is working closely with the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources and the Coalition Provisional Authority.