Photo By Sgt. Joshua Risner | Lt. Col. Mark Solomons (left), from Honolulu, commander of 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry...... read more read more
BAGHDAD — A groundbreaking ceremony took place for the al-Hitaween water treatment plant, located in the vicinity of the villages of Hitaween and Adamiyah, here, July 27.
The area, a sparsely populated, rural patch of land west of Baghdad, relies heavily on the al-Hitaween facility for its drinking water.
"[The plant] was run-down and hadn't been maintained," said Capt. Chris Coates, of Houston, assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. "We're providing funding to refurbish some of the machinery, build up the area a little bit and improve the water capacity it can handle to get more water to all the outlying villages in the area."
Local sheiks and key leaders were invited to the event, which involved a meet and greet with coalition and Iraqi security forces and a ribbon cutting ceremony to signify the beginning of renovations.
According to Capt. Jay Smith, commander of Company C, 2nd Bn., 8th Cav. Regt., coalition forces funded the project, but Iraqis, who wasted no time getting started, carried out the renovations.
"They went straight to work," the Mobile, Ala. native said. "We cut the ribbon and they got their equipment out and started right up."
An improvement to the security in the area has made the project possible.
"The biggest story of this whole thing is how in this area, the [Iraqi army] has done such a good job of cooperating with the [Sons of Iraq] that there are not the problems with security that we used to have," he said. "The security has improved so much that we're able to concentrate on things like fixing the water treatment plant."
Smith went on to add that the threats to security have largely dissolved in his area. "There used to be [al Qaida in Iraq] training camps along the western border of our zone; that stuff has gone away in the last year or so," he said with a smile. "The bad guys just don't live there anymore, they've been chased away and a lot of that has to do with the IA, the [Iraqi police] and the SOI working together."
| Date Taken: | 07.27.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 07.29.2009 07:53 |
| Story ID: | 36933 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 137 |
| Downloads: | 127 |
This work, Renovations start on al-Hitaween water treatment plant, by SGT Joshua Risner, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
