Report slams Iraq sewage project

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By Jennifer Haberkorn

A U.S.-funded system to restore sewage service to Fallujah, Iraq, is expected to come in three times over budget and two years behind schedule, according to a report scheduled to be released Monday.

The Fallujah Waste Water Treatment System, which originally was scheduled to cost $32.5 million and designed to provide sewage facilities to 24,400 households, is now expected to cost $98 million and has no system set up to keep it fueled once it's operational.

"This sustainability issue presents a serious problem for both the U.S. government and the Government of Iraq," the report said. "If the Government of Iraq cannot provide an adequate amount of fuel ... the substantial investment by the U.S. government will be wasted."

The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) said in its report that the system will be only partially completed by April and has 45 additional contractors tacked on to the original project.

The system is the only major new sewage system being constructed in Iraq and one of the largest water projects funded by the U.S. government's reconstruction work there. Fallujah residents currently rely on local septic systems or amateur plumbing connections to the storm water collection system, which disposes of the waste into the Euphrates River.

"Major public health problems emerged in the city of Fallujah as a result of raw sewage flooding the city streets and contaminating the river water used by the public for many purposes," according to the report.

The report largely blames the Iraqi Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works for requesting a more expensive "activated sludge" system - a traditional sewage treatment plant with steel processing tanks - instead of the lagoon system, a series of treatment ponds, that the U.S. wanted to install.

The lagoon system is cheaper and less complex to install and maintain, but the Iraqis were concerned that the "sludge" format would be more reliable and take up less land and said lagoon systems were for "third world countries."

The report blames several other issues for delaying the project, including: unrealistic expectations of time and cost, as well as indecision by the U.S. government, funding and contracting issues, limited contractors and safety issues at the project sites. In addition, the Iraqi Ministry cut costs by putting the cost of connecting the system to homes on the homeowner.

"Had the Iraqis been responsible for the costs of the wastewater treatment facility, more attention would have been paid to local needs and capabilities and to avoiding cost overruns," said Sen. Susan M. Collins, Maine Republican and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

"This egregious waste is yet another example of why the Iraqis must start paying for their own reconstruction projects, as is required in the new law I authored with Senators Ben Nelson and Evan Bayh," she said.

The 2009 Defense Authorization Act, signed into law earlier this month, prohibits American tax dollars from being spent on major reconstruction projects.

"If the Iraqis were more financially invested in these projects, they would have a far greater stake in ensuring that projects are not plagued by waste, fraud and abuse," Miss Collins said.

The Fallujah sewage treatment plant is one of many rebuilding contracts in progress in Iraq. A September report from the Government Accountability Office found that since 2003, the United States has appropriated about $48 billion for stabilization and reconstruction work in Iraq. Contracting has posed problems in Iraq and was one of the impetuses to setting up the SIGIR.

The project was to be completed in 18 months by January 2006 by one contractor. The SIGIR does not publicly release the names of contractors working on the project out of safety concerns.