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DoD Report Spins Water Shortage in Iraq
Water is hardly a topic that holds one's attention for long, until you don't have any.
As it happens, Iraq is short on drinkable water. Although you might not pick up on that fact by reading the paltry two sentences on the topic in the Defense Department's new report on the country, "Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq."
"New projects have added capacity to provide access to potable water to approximately 5.2 million Iraqis—an increase of 1 million people since the August 2006 report," the document reports in a somewhat boosterish tone, giving no benchmark to compare those numbers to. The report acknowledges that "direct measurement of water actually delivered to Iraqis is not available."
A GAO document released Friday on the same topic tells a slightly different story. While reconstruction efforts are more than half-completed in areas like energy generation, oil production -- even school rebuilding and train station renovations -- the amount of potable water currently produced in Iraq is at less than half the target amount. Like the DoD report, GAO notes that such water statistics are inaccurate; unlike the DoD report, it says why: "U.S. officials estimate that 60 percent of water treatment output is lost due to leakage, contamination, and illegal connections."
But didn't the Pentagon state that rebuilding efforts are providing water to 5.2 million Iraqis now? Read it closer: DoD says efforts have boosted "capacity to provide access to potable water" to 5.2 million Iraqis. Can we assume that such "capacity" is what's measured before 60 percent of the usable water is lost to the problems identified by GAO?
Update: A reader notes that elsewhere in its new report, the Pentagon notes that "New water projects have increased the supply of potable water by 35% since May 2006," but that "availability of fresh water remained far short of the need."
Late Update: The capacity/delivery debate has been going on for some time now, it appears. A reader sent in this clip from a February 2006 NPR broadcast in which Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) spar over the issue.
Comments (15)
sumit wrote on December 19, 2006 12:08 PM:actually, seems like the Pentagon is only claiming that they could potentially provide water to 5.2 million Iraqi
"New projects have added capacity to provide access to potable water to approximately 5.2 million Iraqis"
lose 60% of that, and you're down to what, about 2 million Iraqis actually getting good water, out of nearly 26.8 million (accroding to the CIA factbook? So, the Pentagon's great accomplishment is supplying water to less than 10% of the Iraqi population?
paul wrote on December 19, 2006 1:10 PM:Nope, it's not even as "good" as sumit suggests.
The "capacity to provide access" doesn't necessarily even mean that you could actually get the water to Iraqis, just that some part of your system (the pipes? the treatment plant? the billing software?) is of a size that could accommodate
5.2 million people.
Also note that the losses they lump together are very different in character: contamination means that people get water but it's unhealthy (and perhaps might as well not have been treated); leaks mean that no one gets the water, and illegal connections mean that someone gets the water, just not the people the water authority is billing for it.
Mike wrote on December 19, 2006 1:23 PM:In drinking water parlance, 'capacity' refers to treatment capacity. That means the ability to treat water at water plants. The treated water is held in storage for distribution.
What isn't covered is the ability to distribute the treated water via the infrastructure (pumps, pipes, etc.)to the taps.
Water in storage tanks has little value for domestic use and fire flow if the pipes leak more than 10-15% (US average) and the risk grows for contamination in the pipes if they leak excessively or pressure is reduced below 20psi for extended periods.
You can't spin your way out the facts when the water doesn't reach the taps or fire hydrants.
libra wrote on December 19, 2006 1:47 PM:I'd also like to know what the numbers had been for both the capability and actual delivery *before* we blew that country to smithereens. We haven't got the electricity production back up to the pre-war speed; we haven't done it for oil either. All thgose new schools we're building (re-building? renovationg?) are not being used, because the parents are keeping their children at home for safety...
So I wonder if we're doing any better on the "waterfront"
Bob wrote on December 19, 2006 3:11 PM:Try this link:
http://www.brookings.edu/fp/saban/iraq/index.pdf
The Brookings Institute has been doing its best to keep a running tally of some of the important indicators in Iraq. From their December report:
Fuel availability is down every month since August - only 55% of the 'coalition stated goal' of fuel is available.
Oil export revenues are down from $3.44B in August to $2.14B in November.
Electricity production is nearly at the pre-war level, but Baghdad availability is only 6.9 hours daily, versus 16-24 in the pre-invasion. Ever try to keep food with only 7 hours of electricity?
Unemployment is listed at '25-40%' and hasn't changed in a couple of years. One problem here is the difficulty in counting unemployed people in the middle of a war. Some estimates have the unemployment rate at 60%. For contrast, the unemployment rate during our Great Depression was about 22%, if I recall.
Inflation can't really be measured, again because of the war. I saw an estimate of 53%. GDP growth has been estimated by the World Bank at 4%.
Number of foreign banks operating in Iraq: 0
Number of doctors who have been killed or left the country since the invasion: 15,000 (about 50% of all doctors in the country)
Potable water availability:
03/06: 9.7 million people
pre-war: 12.6 million people
Percentage of Iraqis who approve of attacks on US forces (9/06): 61%
Oh, the good news, as reported by Newsweek: Cell phone subscribers = over 7 million, and the cell phone companies are making money. Unfortunately, Newsweek points to this isolated fact and tries to make it sound like Iraq has a functioning, growing, healthy economy.
They don't.
I better stop before I get annoyed.
Cheers,
Bob
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