Girdaseen, Iraq - Kurdistan, a mother of five whose name reflects her family’s pride in their Kurdish heritage, says that water-born diseases used to be a big problem for her children. “My family, especially the little ones, was getting sick all the time,” she explains. “I always had to take them to a doctor in Akre who could not help them much because they were constantly drinking contaminated water.”

Kurdistan’s family is one of 97 families in a makeshift tented camp on the outskirts of Girdaseen, in Dohuk Province, northern Iraq. Until 2006, they lived in Mosul city, but then violence from insurgency groups forced them to leave and find safety in this rural area. Originally 980 families fled to Girdaseen, but most eventually found accommodation in town, leaving the rest to make do in the camp.

Contaminated drinking water was a major contribution to the camp’s challenges. The water network originally installed in 2006 had damaged valves and leaking pipes causing loss in water flow and high contamination rates. IRD, through the Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq program, rehabilitated the water network by constructing 11 manholes, replacing 13 plastic valves with new iron ones, installing a check valve and a gate valve, fixing 10 leakage points, and finally, installing a chlorination system to eliminate contamination.

Kurdistan reports the improvement has been easy to see. “I used to see the dirt residue in the glass when I filled it with water,” she says. “I couldn't afford to buy bottled water for my children, nor could I even afford to boil the water because it exhausted my cooking gas. You can not imagine how relieved I am now when I do my self-test on the water. I can see that it is clear when I fill my glass.”