VZCZCXRO3317
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHAM #5123/01 1901252
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091252Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2127
INFO RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

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