One of three sewage treatment plants is out of commission, one is working at stuttering capacity while a pipe blockage in the third means sewage is forming a foul lake so large it can be seen “as a big black spot on Google Earth,” said Tahseen Sheikhly, civilian spokesman for the Baghdad security plan.
Plus, water can no longer be pumped at sufficient volumes to supply neighborhoods and there is a shortage of electricity which could take ten years to remedy, this in what once was a world-class, modern city of millions.
By now, most of those with money – the technological elites, middle and upper level managers, the intelligentsia – have probably fled and won’t be coming back any time soon, further complicating any efforts at rebuilding. But before any of that happens, the war needs to end.