Iraq: Al-Hay - Solving for Water Scarcity One Well at a Time

Water scarcity is one of the critical threats to human life in Iraq, particularly in rural areas. Dried up rivers and creeks are causing people in some villages to emigrate, as many Iraqis depend on the river water for their occupational and personal needs. There is a similar situation happening in some villages in the AL-Basha’ar neighborhood in al-Hay city. These villages are about 17 km away from the city center and have a population of 500 persons. The people in these villages are suffering from scarce water resources and from a river that is almost entirely dried up.

A group of GCC youth went to one of the villages and met with people there to discuss the problem. They brought the problem to the authorities in Al-Hay city and discussed with them ideas for helping these people with their water scarcity. The GCC youth and the partner from AL-Basha’ar neighborhood agreed to cooperate with Mercy Corps to dig four wells in the area. Mercy Corps agreed to dig the wells and supply all the accessories, while the AL-Basha’ar neighborhood will supply small generators to turn on the water pump, which will draw water from the wells. At the end of February, the action began to be implemented.  A survey was done in order to determine which areas would be best for the wells.

However, AL-Basha’ar neighborhood had to back out of the deal at the last second as they were lagging in their supply of generators and would not be able to supply them to the GCC project. This was a big obstacle for the GCC youth as they could not complete the project without the generators. After a few days, the youth decided to try and find another partner that could supply the electricity for the water pumps. They decided to visit the Department of Electricity in al-hay City and ask them to participate in the action by moving the cables to the wells to supply the electricity. The Department of Electricity agreed to help with the action.

Once the youth had the agreement of the Department, they quickly began working on building the wells. They helped the workers to dig four wells for the village and helped the electricians to supply the electric cables to the wells. Now, the villages that were previously being slowly abandoned are alive and vibrant due to the work of Khanaqin City GCC.