Iraq: Improving Access to Water for the Residents of Duhla – A Rehabilitation Project
Prior to 2014, over 1000 families lived in Duhla, a small village neighbouring the city of Sinuni in northern Iraq. With the arrival of ISIL fighters in 2014, the subsequent Peshmerga operation to dislodge the group from the city let to widespread destruction, including many public infrastructures.
ACTED's Alliance2015 Consortium partner, Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is working to bring essential water infrastructure back on line to help support the return of those displaced in the recent conflict.
Supporting Communities Returning to Conflict-Affected Areas
Duhla once enjoyed a good standard of living, however the conflict forced much of the population to flee. Those who have returned are often forced to reduce their water consumption, some borrowing water (or the money to pay for it) from relatives.
Sa’do Milko, a resident of Duhla, said: “I used to spend about 5,000 Iraqi dinars (about USD 4) a day to buy drinking water. Some of the families in the village could not afford this, so they had to use hard water for cooking and drinking.
The Positive Impacts of the Rehabilitations
Mr. Jamil, a community resident in Duhla said that before the rehabilitation, he received water only once a month through the network, but now he receives water frequently. The project also extended the water network to over a hundred households that did not have access to the network.
WHH also plans to train the employees locally responsible for the network in the skills they will need to ensure its continued operation and maintenance.
This project is funded by the European Union (MADAD Trust Fund) and implemented in consortium with three other organizations; ACTED, PIN and PAH. The project aims to support conflict-affected people in Sinjar district to resettle and sustainably improve their resilience.