WORLD
Water Sewage & Effluent September/October 2017
5
The Iraqi United Nations Development Programme’s
(UNDP) Funding Facility for Stabilisation (FFS) has
officially reopened the Al Qasoor Water Treatment
Plant in Mosul.
Al Qasoor is the second-largest water treatment
plant in eastern Mosul, providing safe drinking water
for 35% of residents. The plant provides 12 000m 3 of
fresh water per hour to 24 neighbourhoods, reaching
300 000 people.
Most of the plant’s pumps, valves, switches,
and control panels were destroyed, as well as its
chlorination system and filtration pools. Work began
on Al Qasoor in early May, even as the fighting in
western Mosul continued. The Ninewah Water
Directorate oversaw the USD1.3-mil lion project,
which was implemented by Iraqi company Thfaf Al
Rafidain employing hundreds of workers from Mosul.
At the ceremony marking the re-opening of the
plant, Ninewah governor Nofal Hammadi said: “We
are doing everything we can to help Mosul rebuild. I’m
proud of the Iraqi workers who bravely began work
even while fighting was ongoing directly across the
river. This project is a vital step to improving the well-
being of the people of Mosul, and we’re grateful for
the continuing support from the United Nations.”
“The plant has been repaired in record time,”
said Lise Grande, UNDP resident representative
for Iraq. “Now that the fighting has stopped,
everything possible needs to be done to stabilise and
reconstruct Mosul.”
More than 330 projects are already underway in
Mosul through UNDP’s FFS.
“Ninety-five per cent of all stabilisation initiatives
are contracted through the Iraqi private sector. This
lowers costs, ensures high levels of local ownership,
and generates jobs in the areas where they are
needed the most. Nearly 10 000 people from Mosul
are working on stabilisation initiatives,” said Grande.
“There’s a lot more to do in Mosul, and we will be
there to help the government and people of Iraq.”
Mosul was one of the last major holdouts in Iraq of
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which
took control of the city in mid-2014. u
The Mosul Dam on the Tigris River, near Mosul, Iraq.
Key water treatment plant
reopened in Mosul