While the temperature reaches 57 ° in Camp Liberty under the sun and while according to Iraqi press the upcoming Ramadan will be the hottest Ramadan of the last 38 years, shortage of water has worsened in Liberty within the last 10 days due to longer queues of tankers, which many times reaches 25 vehicles, at the single water pumping station in the area.
In order to provide water to Liberty nearly 80 residents have to endeavor from 3am to midnight every day. Water tankers are highly decedent and lack air conditioner. The individuals who go to the pumping station, have to wait from seven to nine straight hours in intolerable heat and many are hit by severe sunstroke.
Representatives of UNAMI have inspected twice the long queue at the pumping station in the last 10 days, and have taken video clips and pictures, but no change has occurred in the situation.
Since their arrival at Camp Liberty, the residents had requested the water pipe line to be connected to the city’s water network or to pump water from the canal which passes only 150 meters away from the camp. They discussed the matter with the representative of UNAMI and the Iraqi government in details and stated their readiness to transfer necessary equipments for water pumping from Camp Ashraf to Liberty. But their requests have gone unheeded.
The UNAMI representative quoted Iraqi authorities on May28, and George Bakoos, the political adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister, in a meeting in Camp Liberty in the presence of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq on May31, emphasized Camp Liberty would be connected to Baghdad’s water network before Ramadan. Three days before Ramadan, no single measure has been taken to this effect.
It is past time to supply water by tankers for 2000 inhabitants at Camp Liberty and if the camp would not be connected to the city network or water channel expeditiously, the situation would become more critical.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 18, 2012