Due to the endemic lack of power and potable water in many parts of Iraq, the US Military Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) sought to provide a sustainable and easy to use source of clean water and power for local Iraqis.

They identified the WorldWater solar powered water purification system, or Mobile MaxPure® (MMP), as the preferred solution.

Prior to the MMP deployments, the effected Iraqis were drinking unfiltered and contaminated water that was being pumped directly from an open-air canal.

According to the Zobai tribal representative to Fallujah District Council, Sheikh Hamid Zobai: “Our bodies used to be the filters, but now you’ve given us filters.”

Euphrates

Between May 2008 and July 2008, the PRT delivered twelve (12) MMPs in and around Fallujah along the Euphrates River. The PRT worked with local leaders in villages along the River, transferring the MMP to their care after providing operation and maintenance training.

Shortly after installation, the Chief Engineer at the Iraq Water Treatment Facility, Abbas Hassan, made the following statement: “It solves both of the main problems we have right now, which is having access to clean water while also having a reliable power source.”

In an article published by the United States Embassy in Baghdad on June 7, 2008, the Fallujah District Council Chairman, Hamid Hamid Ahmed Hashim Al-Alwani, made the following remarks: “Clean drinking water is enormously important to our people. … Most people receive drinking water from wells or directly from the Euphrates River, which is contaminated. The solar powered water purification units will be crucial in preventing diseases like cholera and bilharzia.”

After nearly three years of deployment, there have been no reported system failures and there have been no reported negative health effects.

Tigris

Due to the success of the initial MMP deployment the previous year, the US Army submitted an order for an additional twenty-five (25) MMPs in 2009.

These units were installed along the Tigris River: twenty (20) units pumped and purified freshwater sources, while five (5) Reverse Osmosis systems pumped and purified brackish water.

All of the units were constructed to match local power and voltage requirements to sync with products and electrical systems used in Iraq.

According to Sheikh Salam Halbusi, Spokesman, Fallujah District Council, Iraq: “Many children are taken to the hospital every day from illness caused by unclean water, now hospital visits are down.”

According to Jared N. Gehmann, Private, 82nd Airborne Division, 3rd Brigade Combat Team: “The system also is transportable and can provide clean drinking water to even the most remote villages in the region, a vast, mostly desolate area were most water sources consist of dirty, mineral-filled wells.”

In an article published in Soldiers magazine in January, 2011, Maj. Jess R. Stewart, the commander of Charlie Troop, 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry, remarked: “When someone asks whether the US has been successful in Iraq, we can tell the story of solar-powered water filtration technology, and Soldiers working with the Iraqi people to help them survive on their own.”

After nearly two years of deployment, there have been no reported system failures and there have been no reported negative health effects.