Iraq Water Seminar Links Government, Academics

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005123 SIPDIS SIPDIS State for ISN/CTR - USCRDF Energy Dept for Sandia Lab/Cooperative Monitoring Center E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV IZ JO SUBJECT: Iraq Water Seminar Links Government, Academics ¶1. Summary: The seminar "Clean Water in Iraq - Water Purification and Environmental Remediation," sponsored by State's ISN (International Security and Nonproliferation) Bureau and held June 25-29 in Amman, made important contributions towards linking the policy, technical, governmental and academic communities on water issues. End summary. -------------- -- Seminar Series Seeks to Redirect WMD Scientists -------------- -- ¶2. The five-day seminar was part of State/ISN's program to redirect Iraqi scientists with WMD expertise into civilian employment in support of Iraqi national reconstruction. This is done in part by building intersectoral relationships and promoting information exchange. The seminar was the second in a series of seminars organized by the Civilian Research and Development Foundation (CRDF) and Embassy Baghdad's Iraqi Interim Center for Science and Industry (IICSI),and was held at Jordan's Royal Scientific Society. There were over twenty presentations and more than thirty poster displays. -------------- Attendees Represent a Wide Range of Expertise -------------- ¶3. Approximately 40 Iraqi water specialists and 15 international consultants from the U.S., the U.K. and Jordan attended. Iraqi attendees included academics, ministry officials and Directors General of former Military Industrial Companies (MICs). Several of them had participated in highly effective, rapid response reconstruction following the first Gulf War in 1991. The Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Higher Education, and the Ministry of Industry and Minerals were represented at the Deputy Director General level or lower. They had expertise in water quality, water treatment, public utility management and environmental assessments. The international consultants had expertise in water quality monitoring, low-maintenance wastewater treatment facilities, microbiology, water resource planning and modeling, and Geographic Information Systems. ¶4. The participation of government officials was due largely to the efforts of Linda Allen, IRMO Senior Consultant. Other participants were solicited via a "call for abstracts" distributed by IICSI and the Arab Science and Technology Foundation's Baghdad Office. -------------- --- Networking: First Time For Many to Work Together -------------- --- ¶5. The seminar was extraordinarily productive simply by getting participants from different institutions to talk to each other and to share information. Many of the Iraqi participants had never worked together before. This was a critical early step in building professional networks and working relationships between managers and technicians, officials and academics, former WMD experts and their civilian counterparts, and between Iraqi and foreign experts. -------------- Consensus Recommendations Paper Being Drafted -------------- ¶6. The workshop also helped establish a consensus between these groups on the current status of water issues and infrastructure in Iraq, what resources are available, what is being planned, and what solutions might be. The sessions and corridor conversations helped to address the lack of coordination and information exchange in the water sector. Participants agreed that a small group would draft a formal recommendations paper following the meeting, with the intent of presenting it to the Iraqi government. -------------- Shortcomings of Participants Evident -------------- ¶7. Iraq's decades of isolation were apparent during the seminar. Technical knowledge of Iraqi participants was often at a modest level and based on data available from simpler, older equipment. Presentations were sometimes basic and a few presenters were clearly uncomfortable at the podium. In fast-moving fields such as microbiology and modeling, skill sets were completely outdated. Many water quality and quantity studies were presented but there were no standardized or shared data, and measurements of the same phenomena varied. ¶8. Some participants did not demonstrate fundamental scientific skills on critical thinking, analysis and assumptions. Modern facts AMMAN 00005123 002 OF 002 of life for academics about the need to seek out research funding and creating public-private partnerships were new concepts for many. Participation by the international consultants not only expanded the technical knowledge of the Iraqis but also conveyed many of these intangible soft skills that are essential to "doing business" in the modern world. Addressing knowledge and skill gaps within the scientific community will be crucial in rectifying problems in Iraq's water sector. -------------- No Shortage of Problems -------------- ¶9. Problems in Iraq's water sector were not difficult to identify. Items mentioned in the seminar included high salinity in surface waters, overloaded, outdated and non-functional infrastructure, untreated sewage discharges into surface and ground waters, reduced in-stream flows due to upstream diversions or impoundments, ill-trained staff, a lack of data on existing infrastructure (e.g. location and condition of water distribution lines),a lack of equipment and supplies, garbage and chemicals dumped on riverbanks, a lack of planning, and illegal water connections. Overarching issues include the lack of security, poor management, little coordination and a shortage of funds. In some cases, physical resources exist but are not deployed because of concerns over security or lack of appropriate staff. -------------- -------------- S&T Foundation Announces Program to Fund Research -------------- -------------- ¶10. Funding of research was not a central theme of the workshop, but the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) announced the Iraqi Research and Development Initiative (IRDI),a new partnership between State/ISN, the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and ASTF. This partnership will fund research projects in a number of areas relevant to Iraqi reconstruction, including water. ¶11. Comment: The workshop created a community where there was nothing before. The soft skills and network developed during these five days will move the Iraqi water sector towards integration with itself and with its professional peers around the world. HALE